


Every Rose Has Its Thorns

by IndigoKookaburra



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:21:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 76,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23224684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndigoKookaburra/pseuds/IndigoKookaburra
Summary: Alexander was part of an up and coming band in Sydney, the Rose of Blasphemy, but he and his mates unfortunately had a fatal accident before their latest gig.Upon arriving in Hell, and despite confusion, they had settled in better than hoped, and years later, Alexander's life in hell had become a little more haywire than he anticipated.A story by Reddit User Thebrutalistboi
Comments: 7
Kudos: 28





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Before you begin reading, I would like to give credits.
> 
> I worked on this with a mate of mine on Reddit, I give full credit to them.
> 
> Reddit User Thebrutalistboi came up with the characters and the story line and asked me to help bring the story to life. I got their permission to post this story on here.
> 
> We've been working on this story for a little while, and I am glad to report that more chapters have been planned and written.
> 
> If you would like to know more about the characters, here are the links to Therrutalistboi's bios they made for them.
> 
> r/HazbinFanFics/comments/fg2rkk/my_ocs_band_rose_of_blasphemy_in_my_upcoming/
> 
> r/HazbinFanFics/comments/fhb6yd/some_info_on_my_oc_alexander_who_is_the_lead/
> 
> r/HazbinFanFics/comments/fhrtkb/some_info_on_my_oc_brandon_who_is_the_bassist_and/
> 
> r/HazbinFanFics/comments/fibx5j/some_info_on_my_oc_sam_whos_the_rhythm_guitarist/
> 
> r/HazbinFanFics/comments/fic57x/some_info_on_my_oc_hector_who_is_the_lead/
> 
> r/HazbinFanFics/comments/ficlrb/some_info_on_my_final_oc_jackson_who_is_the/
> 
> So, we both hope you enjoy the story we present to you.

Prologue

_There was the smell of petrol… and a lot of pain. So much pain._

_Wait…_

There’s a voice.

It’s getting louder.

“Hey.”

His eyes open slightly and he sees red. Wait no, it’s a red sky… that’s weird… there are dark shadows lining his vision.

There’s a figure moving above him. Is that where the voice is from?

“Alex.”

Alex? Who’s Alex?

“Alexander!”

Oh wait, that’s him.

His eyes focus and his winces feeling light on them, the figure above him can be made out.

A… dog? It’s grey. It has white irises and red sclera… Short hair on its head too… It has burnt clothing on too, strange… wait why is it over him?

“Oi! Alexander!” The dog is talking…? Wait a damn minute, the fucking dog is talking!

Immediately he sits up and moves back frantically seeing the talking dog close to him “HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?!”

“Mate, it's me Brandon.”

“The fuck you are!”

“No! Serious, I am Brandon!”

“Since when is Brandon a talking dog?!”

“I’m a wolf.”

“That doesn’t change anything!”

“Look… you should be Alexander; you have the haircut.”

“I am Alexander!” Alexander yells then registers what the wolf had said. “How do you know that?!”

“Because I’m Brandon!”

Alexander crosses his arms and leans away as the wolf gets closer. Sure, he sounds like Brandon, but then again, many people sound like Brandon “Prove it.”

“The first time you got drunk you mistook me for-”

“Okay! You’re Brandon!” Alexander feels his face go red and he uncrosses his arms to pull his hair in anxiousness. Only Brandon knows of that night. What is going on? What is this place? Why is there so much red? And blood? But more importantly… “Mate, why the fuck are you a furry?”

“How the fuck should I know?!” Brandon is not happy, definitely Brandon. The Wolf pulls Alexander up by the shirt “I woke up like this! You’re not looking any better!”

“Okay… calm down…” Alexander gently unwinds the fingers… or toe beans? From his shirt. He stands a little wobbly but he gets used to it and notices his tattered and burnt clothing… did the bus explode? No… it rolled over… many… many… times… wait, his hands are pale and thin, and what’s that black line swirling around. Is there something wrong with him too? He looks around this little space in between buildings for a mirror then sees three more bodies on the floor “Who are they?”

“Aww, come on, Alex, you don’t recognise your friends?” Brandon asks sarcastically and both loom over the three bodies. “Who’s who, I wonder…”

The first body is… is a cat? Yeah, he looks like a Siamese cat, the regular old black and white pattern; black face, black paws, black tail, white body; but with curly long hair and fur, fluffy and soft looking. And he’s wearing similar clothing to both Alexander and Brandon… Wait… he knows that haircut. This same old Metallica cut, only Sam would have it. Wonder why he’s a cat? Wonder if this is really Sam.

The next body is an orange spider? What a freaky looking thing. He looks fluffy, and his fur’s colour ranges from pumpkin to fire orange depending on the areas of his body. He has red spots too, dotting around his body in a random flurry. His clothes, like the Cat’s, are similar to his and the Wolf’s. He also looks pretty tall, too… and his hair. It’s kind of spiky and fluffy, it’s long too. Like Jackson’s Kid scene style – wait… Well he’s an idiot, isn’t he? Who knew Jackson would turn into a spider?

The final body. This guy’s a pretty damn colourful looking dragon thing. He’s a bright turquoise but he has lemon yellow scales rimming his eyes and tipping his tail. It’s weird, but it’s kind of cool? Again, wearing similar clothes to the rest. And being a giant lizard thing, he doesn’t really have hair, which would be confusing because why would a reptilian thing have hair? Wait, if the other two are Jackson and Sam, is this Hector?

“Hey, why isn’t he a furry?” Alexander asks pointing to who he assumed is Hector while Brandon shrugs and kicks all three awake. Was that necessary? All three groan and Alexander watches as the Spider sits up and rubs his orange eyes, he looks up at both Alexander and Brandon and yells. The other two sit up immediately and see each other, they yell as well. A Normal reaction.

“Shut up!” Brandon yells louder and immediately the three go silent. This silence is both awkward and heavy.

Alexander plays with his long hair to ease his feeling of dread and notices the purple tips. Strange, he doesn’t remember dying his hair. Then again, he doesn’t remember his friends minus one being furries.

“Okay, now that we’re all quiet and listening…” Brandon sighs and holds his nose looking even more irritated “I’m Brandon.”

Alexander looks to the three and instantly they were going to yell again like he did, but Brandon’s glare keeps them in line. In all his life, Alexander has never been so calm in a situation as freaky as this, and seeing Brandon… the Wolf, glare down a giant Spider, a fucking dragon and a huge cat into submission is something to see.

“Yeah, I know, it’s unreal. But, trust me, you should all see yourselves.” Brandon growls then looks to Alexander, who immediately jumps feeling the gaze on him. Brandon motions him over and Alexander does so hesitantly, what’s he going to do? Alexander is in arm’s length when Brandon reaches over his head and grabs something, Alexander is pulled over somehow and he feels Brandon’s… paw? On something on his head “This is Alexander.”

“I can see that, but…” The Cat’s voice sounds like Sam’s. Alexander looks over from his confusion and he sees… cat eyes. He doesn’t know what he expected. A cat that has cat eyes, _who knew_? But, more importantly, does he look that recognisable? “You’re…”

“You’re Brandon?” The Dragon asks sceptically, that’s Hector’s Voice. And Alexander looks into his… weird eyes. His Irises are a dark blue and his sclera are black. Freaky.

“Yes!” Brandon pushes Alexander away in irritation, Alexander manages to catch himself before he could fall and he turns around to face Brandon but sees a puddle.

He lets Brandon do his thing as he walks over and kneels in front of the puddle to lean over it. His reflection looks weird… Is he a deer? He has decently sized antlers and those things on top of his head looks like ears… they match his hair colour, black, and he’s glad that his hair is still long. The purple tips are still a surprised though, and even more surprising to how many shades there are rimming his hair style. And his Eyes… his Sclera is a dark purple and his Irises are a sort of lilac colour. His skin is pretty pale as well… To be honest… he looks kind of tame compared to the others.

“Where are we?” Alexander looks over hearing Jackson’s voice. He stands back up and heads over to his group. At least everyone is sort of calm now.

“I don’t know.” Brandon is heard sighing.

“Should we walk around?” Alexander suggests and fiddles with his hair while looking around. This little space isn’t flash, but in most cities, the little parts are the dirties. Who knows, maybe in the streets it’s a lot better.

It’s not better. It’s really not any better.

This place is literally Hell!

Sex, alcohol, drugs, prostitutes, violence everywhere! It’s so freaky and fucked up!

All five of them have been walking for roughly half an hour and already they have come to understand that they will die unless they have shelter.

“What do we do?” Hector asks quietly while avoiding the woman that’s trying to get his attention.

“I don’t know, look for a hotel?” Alexander suggests as he opens an arm out to let the dragon hide beside him. He glances to the woman and sees her flipping him off.

“What place here has a decent hotel?” Brandon growls at the next demon that comes closer and he’s flipped off as well.

“Do you have any ideas?” Sam butts in, sounding extremely annoyed.

There’s an argument.

“Guys, let’s calm down…” Jackson pipes up in a calm voice and he gets the attention of the group. Sam and Brandon get off each other’s backs and grumble listening to him. There’s an uncomfortable silence as Jackson looks around, then he points to a building off to the side. “Look, there’s a tavern, we’ll recoup in there.”

“As long as it’s not a strip club…” Sam mutters and looks to the sign on the Tavern’s face. Alexander looks as well, “Note String’s Club”. Is it a music place too?

All five of them walk over to the tavern across the road, avoiding weird looking demons and obvious druggies, and of course the one car that nearly made them roadkill, but they survived.

Brandon is the one brave enough to push the door open and enter, the rest soon enter and Alexander looks around. This place is a little dull. Hardly any customers, it smells funny and he doesn’t see any staff members.

But immediately, Alexander realises, all the patrons are looking at them. There are glares in the thin crowd and Alexander shrinks away nervously and hiding his face in his hair as he moves closer to Hector.

“Okay, there’s the bar, let’s find out what this place is and try to plan what to do next.” Jackson states and he trots to the bar. Alexander is the last of the group to follow as he’s still looking around. The floor is dirty, the tables look grubby, and there’s a stage. What’s the point of a stage if there’s no microphone or anything for a performer to present? Eventually, he heads over and he sits next to Hector at the bar. All four other members look at Jackson as he clears his throat “Okay…”

“Get the fuck out, you money munching little whore!”

All five of them look over to the side and they see a grey looking man dragging a woman in a skanky outfit by the hair. This woman looks like the typical red demon you would see in books and TV, just… more… feminine? That’s the polite way of saying it.

But this guy… this guy looks kind of scary.

He’s wearing a white shirt that has its sleeves pinned up by the elbows, and over it is a silver vest with black stitching. His slacks are black around with his shoes. He’s tall and appears somewhat muscly as his clothing is hiding most of what his body looks like as they’re loose enough to appear fashionably oversized. His hair is dark and short, slicked back to reveal his thin horns that curl upward like a spiral. His fangs are shown as he looks to be pissed off beyond belief. And his eyes? His eyes are completely black.

He throws the woman out of the door and continues to yell.

“If I ever see your sorry-excuse-for-a-shit-stained face in my industry again, not even death by angel will compare to what I’d do to you!” He slams the door and Alexander guesses even he can sense the awkwardness overlying the silence in the tavern, because he then yells at every patron “What are you looking at?!”

Alexander jolts back facing forward and he tugs his hair nervously hearing quiet chatter amongst the remaining patrons. His mates are quiet but he can sense Hector wanting to say something, but the Dragon keeps quiet.

The silence in their group is almost choking at him, so he decides to crack a joke to lighten the mood “That guy’s more temperamental than Brandon.”

He hears Brandon snort and there’s an ease in the air they occupy. At least the tenseness isn’t scaring them into even more silence, this place… is really fucked up.

“So, what can I get you gentlemen?” Alexander jumps holding his heart hearing that man’s voice. He’s in front of all five of them, he’s holding a bottle of regular booze and he thinks Vodka. Is he the bartender?

“Umm…” Jackson stumbles on his words before Sam cuts in.

“Information.” The cat leans forward and the man raises an eyebrow amused by this. The rest however, they are thinking along the lines of “Why the hell are you so straight forward?” Sam leans on his elbow, a scowl on his face “What the fuck is this place?”

“It’s my Tavern.” The Man answers simply and there’s a twitch in his eye. Alexander notices immediately and frantically thinks of a way to deescalate the situation.

“He-he means, where are we?” Alexander asks stuttering and tugging his hair. Talking to strangers isn’t a strong feature he has. He gets chills down his spine when the demon looks at him with a glare. Damn you, social shyness! “I mea-mean… is this Hell?”

“Ahh, newly fallen.” The Bartender state nonchalantly and he places the vodka bottle down to fetch out five small glasses, he pours the beer into each while Alexander looks to his mates. Like him, they are all confused at this guy’s words. The Bartender serves the booze to them and Alexander hesitantly takes his “Yeah, this is Hell. Neat, ain’t it?”

“So, we’re really dead?” Hectors asks unusually loud and Alexander sips his booze a little concerned. Sure, he expected this… but Hell? He’s really dead? But they were preparing so much! They had a really promising gig! And the bus just-!

“Yep, dead as dust.” The Bartender looks over them all “… Or ash.”

“God, what’re we going to do…?” Brandon growls and downs his glass – he puts his head on the counter and sulks.

“Work for me.”

“Pardon?” Brandon asks in astonished politeness.

“I’m low on workers.” The Bartender states and cleans the three glasses that are empty. Alexander sips the rest of his glass and places it down for the Bartender to take and clean. “Look, you five need a place to stay, right?”

All five make a sound correlating to “yes”.

“Good, you’re hired. I have an apartment building outback, you each get a room and pocket money in exchange for you all working for me.”

“That…” Sam holds onto that sentence and he goes into silence.

“Sounds fair, right?” Jackson nods to everyone and Alexander gives him an unsure thumbs-up. Jackson takes the lead, after all, everyone had silently agreed to work. What else could they do? They will die out there. “Okay, we’ll work.”

Their new Boss had led them into the backyard, an employees’ only area. The building is large, like the tavern, and the little apartments are just the right size for a regular bedroom.

Alexander leans on his door and takes it all in. He died. He’s in Hell. His mates died. They’re in Hell as well. He’s this weird black deer thing and his mates are all these monstrous looking things. Wait, are they demons now? Is that how it works? People just die and fall into hell and turn into demons? Is there even a reason why they turn into animal-looking demon things? Why not just red skinned, ugly looking, big horned demons seen in horror movies?

He sinks down to sit and he holds his head. He needs to get his thinking straight. Currently, he’s alive… or kind of alive. He’s a demon. A deer demon. Which is confusing. Wouldn’t it make more sense to make him a dingo, a kangaroo? Wait, no, that would make sense for his mates. And England does have deer… maybe it does make sense?

Bah! Confusing!

He stands back up and fixes his hair, sighing silently as he goes to open the door then pauses seeing his tattoo. He gets curious as he wants to think of something else, so he heads to the bathroom.

He sees the mirror and takes off his shirt. The black vines continue to go up his arms, but there are flowers. Many flowers.

Blue Lilies, Lotuses, Tulips, Snapdragons, and many more, of many colours, aligning the vines, they’re small but Alexander can make them out. They’re beautiful.

He guides his hands over his skin as he stares into the mirror at his reflection. He notices vines around and lazing on his neckline and on his throat, with thorns that look like they’re threatening to break his skin. It’s almost sinister. And the many flower petals around the vines aren’t helping.

Alexander stares at the tats on his neck and is debating whether or not he wants to see what flowers or vines are on his back. It could be a garden? Or just a mess of vines and thorns. He wants to see, but at the same time he doesn’t.

Screw it, he can’t hide his back forever.

He turns around and stays silent at what he sees. This flower is significantly large than the rest. It’s where all the vines are coming from. It’s deep red petals have a close resemblance to blood, to the point that Alexander mistook it for him bleeding, but they’re black enough for him to know better.

This flower represents death itself. It’s velvety petals and dark complex resembling that of the Angel of Death. Elegant, but poisonous in meaning.

The Black Pearl Rose.

He puts his shirt back on and sighs. More things to take in. He’s starting to miss his life… he didn’t even get to pick his first tattoo!

Alexander opens his door. He might as well try to cope with this new situation before having a mental breakdown…

Alexander waits outside the back door for his mates. They’re taking longer to get accustomed. They should, after all, he regretted the moment he exited his room, but he couldn’t just go back in. He could, but…

Alexander tugs at his hair and he looks to the door. And his new Boss… His Landlord… He’s kind of… strange.

Suddenly the door opens with a slam and Alexander jumps high, holding his heart for dear life and wide eyed. The Landlord looks at him confused and raising an eyebrow before Alexander calms himself down. This guy…

“What’s with you?”

“You appears so suddenly…” Alexander exhales slowly then breaths in deep. Now he has control of his lungs.

“Anyway, you’ll do.” The Landlord grabs Alexander’s wrist and pulls him in the tavern, Alexander yelps and wants to pull back but his Boss appears to be a lot stronger than he is. He’s thrown forward and he nearly trips before catching himself, he stands properly and looks to his Boss. The Landlord has a bucket and mop in his hand “You first, mop the place.”

“Okay.” Alexander takes both bucket and mop, the Landlord walks off through the Employees’ only quarters, maybe to get the rest. Alexander places the bucket down and dunks the mop head in it, he moves onto mopping the wooden floor. Doesn’t wood buckle when mopped like this? Oh well. Alexander moves around tables and mops underneath them and picks up chairs to mop the floor properly. Silently, he wonders, how in the world is this floor so dirty? Are they beer stains? Vomit? Piss? Fucking hope this is not piss, he’s been walking all over these stains.

After a week or so, Alexander’s job is mainly mopping and cleaning table tops and etcetera. He’s the maid, essentially, but whenever he’s not cleaning, he’s tasked with being a waiter. The others have more important jobs.

Jackson is the second bartender since he’s one of the oldest and can actually follow the instructions their Landlord when tending to patrons about their drinks.

Brandon’s temper and overall attitude made him a little bit intimidating to patrons, so their Landlord made him the Bouncer. Alexander is worried that he’s enjoying his job all too much.

Sam’s taking his role well, being a waiter and all. He’s still a little quiet but overall the Patrons have been easy so far, but everyone’s on guard in case something happens. No one will hurt their kitty cat.

Hector… His job… Alexander has no idea what he does. He sees him talking to the Boss a few times a day and with… questionable looking patrons. Maybe his job is more dangerous? Alexander is sure he’s a not cook, because the cook’s an arse and has around ten arms so he doesn’t need help, what else could Hector be?

Alexander wipes down some tables when he notices the potted plants around, they’re limp. He instantly stops what he’s doing and rushes over to the closest one. How could it be dying?! It’s an indoor plant! It doesn’t need much sunlight! Has it been watered? This plant type is a succulent so if it’s limp then that means it’s overwatered. Can the soil drain properly? Is this the proper soil?

“Oi, Alexander, get back to work.”

“Sorry, Sir! How much have the plants been watered?” Alexander ignores the order and zooms up to his Boss, the Grey demon flinches as the taller demon frets “Hell with it, are they potted correctly? The plants are technically succulents and they don’t need much water to begin with since they don’t get much sunlight either, but is the soil’s pH level correct? Most succulents can tolerate a mild pH of seven, but most prefer a slightly more acidic soil, like pH six. The pots drain properly, right?”

“What are you going on about?” His Boss asks, he sounds confused, but he’s keeping composure.

“The plants are limp!” Alexander motions to the closest plant and his Employer looks to it in confusion “Succulents go limp when they’re overwatered or their soil is too damp! Root rot is a possibility!”

“Of course I have a garden nut…” Alexander hears his boss sigh and he sees him holding his nose. Alexander rubs his arm nervous. He let his dorky side come out. Sure, plants are awesome, and Alexander is really passionate about them, he loves caring for them. Basically, he loves caring for slow growing, defenceless lifeforms. He can’t explain why; he just loves it. “Never mind, come with me.”

Is he in trouble? Damn it.

The Boss takes him through the Employees’ Only doorway. Alexander tugs his hair as the Landlord leads him to the side of the apartment buildings. Where is he taking him? Is it bad? What’s he going to do? Why does this place smell funny?

“Boss?” Is that Hector? Alexander sees the Dragon in front of a really suspicious black covering. What’s he hiding? “Why’s Alexander here?! He shouldn’t know about this!”

“You didn’t tell me he was a gardener.” The Landlord throws Alexander forward and the Buck doesn’t manage to catch himself this time and tastes dirt. Alexander spits out the… clay? This is clay? Why is there clay? Hector helps him up as he’s holding his hand to his mouth confused by the taste.

“Well- he doesn’t know about this!” Hector yells and holds Alexander away from the entrance to the black covering.

“And for a bloody good reason.” The Boss crosses his arms and Alexander feels sweat running down his face. What is happening?

“He doesn’t do drugs!” Hector bursts out in argument.

“Everyone in Hell has done drugs.” The Boss states like it was obvious.

“Drugs?” Alexander cuts in, both look at him, The Landlord isn’t really happy, that’s to be expected but Hector looks worried. “What are you two talking about.”

“Well…” Hector let’s go of him to play with his fingers. “We’re growing stuff.”

“Cannabis?” Alexander guesses and his eyes widen slightly seeing Hector nod sheepishly. “Why?”

“Because some of my patrons have exquisite tastes for when they want to get high.” The Landlord explains and takes both by the arms to drag them inside. Alexander holds in a yelp in exchange for pinching his nose shut the second he the funny smell gets significantly stronger. He stares sees the many cannabis plants lines up like… like a farm to put it simply. But Alexander can see more species of plants other than Cannabis itself “Not only marijuana, we are growing poppies, some dagga, and two sassafras trees.”

“And… you’re growing this…?” Alexander sounds a little funny but he’s breathing in through his mouth so he lets his nose go, he’s already breathed in this air, might as well commit to it. “Because?”

“It brings in money.” The Landlord throws Alexander forward again, and safe to say, Alexander is a little proud of himself when he catches himself this time. The Buck stands up straight to look at the two watching him, Hector seems nervous while their Boss looks like he’s expecting something. Alexander holds in a sigh as he looks at the first plant, the Devil’s Lettuce “Do your thing. What’s wrong with the weed?”

“Umm… well…” Alexander can see so much wrong with this garden, but should he intervene or help? If it brings in more money, then better living conditions, but if it the end it doesn’t, then what? He’ll forever hold in his heart that he knowingly helped out growing drugs. “What about the rest?”

“The rest are fine.” The Landlord points to the cannabis “Work your magic.”

Alexander looks to the many, many green leafy plants. Should he? He shouldn’t, but he’s in Hell. He does have a moral compass and he’d like to stick by it despite where he ended up… But, there’s a lot wrong. So, so wrong.

“Umm… Hell’s normal temperature is around 30 degrees Celsius on good days, but it escalates. We need to keep the plants in a greenhouse to regulate the temperature. Because temperatures above 30 will cause stunted growth.” Alexander begins and he zooms to the plants, he gently pinches a leaf and notices how… limp and stiff it feels. It’s confusing, but it’s not healthy. “Hell doesn’t really rain much, but when it does, it’s killer, so they need to make a greenhouse because the Cannabis will die in these storms… And too much water will damage the flowering stage.”

Alexnader kneels to the dirt and plays with it while observing the stems of the plant he’s with.

“The cannabis needs a lot of sunlight, and Hell had plenty of daylight, so it’s a good substitute. And seasons don’t really change anything since Hell’s idea of seasons is only a slight change in temperature, so nothing about them changes anything. And with less sunlight, the flowering stage activates sooner. That’s a plus, I guess…” Alexander shakes the plant he’s with slightly and notices how it just lets him. No resistance what so ever. Not good. “Hell does have some winds, but it’s wiser to keep them in a green house.”

Alexander spots a blossoming bud on another plants and heads to it. This one is good, but it could do better.

“Growing from the seeds is best, and they have the type of Cannabis that takes a fairly long time to flower, but if they have enough care, they’ll flower earlier. And, I can feminise the produce since only the female plants can flower, but he can use the males to germinate the rest of the females.” Alexander plucks a petal from the bud and plays with it. It’s not bad. They could smoke this, no problem. “So, no cloning them, seeds need to be grown and we can plant those. More produce. Also, do not autoflower, and we don’t have the autoflowering cannabis in here, which is good because they’re less potent. We’ll Grow the longer germinating ones from the seeds, it’s more rewarding and they last longer.”

Alexander spies the bags of soil off to the side and he digs a hand in an open bag to pull out some of it. It’s clay soil. Not good.

“It’s best to have soil that drains, so the whole farming technique is good, but they need to add in more sandy soil. The clay you have drains slowly, and Cannabis doesn’t fair well with so much water in their roots. So, we need to dig them all up and redo the soil. Add silty soil and sandy soil, and maybe some compost. No, a lot of compost, and dead plants. Cannabis need a lot of nutrients to grow properly. We need to add more mulch now that I think about it…” Alexander looks to the ground again “And fertilisers, we need a lot of fertiliser.”

Alexander looks around and finds a bag label fertiliser.

“Cannabis plants require a large amount of nutrients over their life cycle, mainly in the form of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. How you choose to feed them will depend on the composition of the soil and your own methods.” Alexander zooms to the bag and pulls it open. He frowns seeing synthetically made dark brown dirt. No. “So, buy fertiliser with a lot of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium… so maybe a lot of compost. The Silty soil has a lot of nutrients, so we don’t have to worry much about it, but a good amount would do it all well.”

Alexander pauses to look at the plants again.

“Honestly, this style of growth is okay. Like Farming. But we need to add some mounds in case the roots decide to go wild.” He shrugs and kicks some dirt to uncover a root.

Definitely not good.

“And, the plants are going to grow really big if we do this correctly, so they need a lot of water, but this is the tricky part because the soil need to drain well because the roots can quickly become rotted. So, we can put rock near the roots so it’s not much of a problem, but this is why we need to add sandy soil, too.” Alexander walks around and spots the hose. He gives it a blank stare. Have they been seriously watering these with hose water? “Oh, and don’t use tap water. It’s chlorinated, that kills plants. So straight water is best. At most, in this stage… only water a small amount until things get underway. Like a generous amount, about… umm… just water all the leaves, that much, but a little bit more. But then water directly into the soil, only around a half of what’s on the leaves seeing as currently they’re not in good shape.”

Alexander walks to the middle of this garden and ignores the healthy plants to look up. He places his hands up to measure how high the roof needs to be.

“So, we need to put a roof above all of this, because, yeah, people will try to steal them, but also because Hell has some questionable weather patterns. Cannabis doesn’t do well against harsh weather patterns. And pests, bugs suck. We don’t need bug repellent or killer, Cannabis can keep bugs away, but infestations still happen… maybe add some marigolds to keep bugs away just in case…” Alexander puts his arms down and holds his fist under his chin in thought. Yeah, marigolds are good and they’re easy to manage. They should be okay to plant with Cannabis.

Alexander looks back at the two. His Boss is smiling, like he’s proud and happy… or pleased, whatever, Alexander did a good. Kind of. Meanwhile, Hector is staring wide eyed.

“How do you know this?” The Dragon asks totally confused and awestruck.

“I’m a garden freak, Cannabis is part of the Cannabaceae genus of plants, they’re easy to grow if you know what to do.” Alexander explains as he looks around, he grabs a shovel and mumbles “You’re not the first to ask me to grow this stuff.”

“What?”

“Nothing!”

After another few weeks, Alexander had helped grow the greenhouse of drugs. He’s not proud of his role, but he’s proud of what he’s growing. It’s going so well!

And his Boss is letting his grow his own little garden as a reward. BONUS!

So far he has roses, lilies, peonies, lavender – he wants to add so much more! He has so many idea! So many grafting opportunities as well! Oh! He can grow fruits and berries! He can produce the Tavern food! The best damn food anyone has ever tasted!

Yes sir! He’s having a blast! Almost as if he never died at all!

But he does miss his old things though… Being on stage… but he doubts that’s ever going to happen again. Where is Hell would he and his mates get instruments to begin with? Finding flowers were hard enough.

“You know; it’s been a while since we came here.” Sam state nonchalantly while helping Alexander clean. It’s closing time. Jackson is helping their Boss clean glasses, kitchen’s off limits, Hector and Brandon are chilling at the bar since they’ve completed their side of the tavern.

“Yeah?” Hector looks over along with Alexander, the Cat is now playing pretend with his mop, like it’s a guitar.

“Do you think we can start practicing again?” Sam asks and the rest of the group look at him. “What? I miss playing.”

“Practicing what?” The Landlord asks suspiciously while the rest look at each other nervously.

“Damn!” Brandon slams his hand down and laughs. All his mates jump while their boss looks at the wolf with a raised eyebrow “Now I wanna get the band back together!”

“Band?” Their Landlord asks and pauses his cleaning.

“Yeah, we had a pretty good thing going on!” Brandon explains and taps his fingers on the counter “And we would keep doing it if we had instruments!”

Alexander clears his throat.

“Minus Alex, he’s our Lead.” Brandon explains “We were a Death Metal Band.”

“Interesting.” The Landlord hums and continues to clean. “And what were your roles?”

“I was the Bassist and Back vocals.” Brandon points to himself then to everyone else “Jackson was the drummer. Hector was the Lead guitarist. Sam was the rhythm guitarist.”

“Yeah, but mate, we’re not going to perform again, we don’t even have instruments.” Jackson states a matter of factly while carefully placing the glasses back in their place.

“I’ll arrange that.” Their Boss’ words make all five band members drop what they’re doing and stare at him. He continues his cleaning like he’s not being stared at like he’s grown a second head “We need more patrons.”

And that’s how that happened. Alexander isn’t sure where or how his Landlord got the instruments and microphones, but he’s not complaining.

Their first performance was a week after their Landlord got them the instruments, and they all had to practice again to get used to them. It was hard, but worth it.

Their Landlord even let them perform a preshow just so he could determine whether or not they could perform in his tavern. When he gave the okay, they were ecstatic.

Their first performance got only a few dozen demons in the audience, advertisement isn’t easy, they’ve come to learn, but after their first song, soon many more came.

It was the biggest payday the band had seen for the Tavern. And soon, the Landlord scheduled a timetable for them to perform, they were okay with it since it’s basically once every fortnight.

But boy, Alexander had not expected what came next.

The Rose of Blasphemy somehow got really well known in Hell. Every time he’s out for a walk, at least once he hears his Band’s name on someone’s tongue. It’s amazing.

But soon, a fortnight flew by.

“Okay, what’s the first song?” Jackson asks and Alexander looks at him while holding his microphone.

“Fuck Everything.” Brandon answers instantly and Jackson has a mini celebration

“Yes!” Jackson nods and finger guns Alexander “Alex, you good?”

“Of course.” Alexander smiles in his answer as he plays with the Microphone’s cord.

“Brandon?” Jackson finger guns the Wolf.

“Ready.” Brandon growls, he sounds eager as he’s tuning his bass guitar.

“Hector, Sam?” Jackson puts extra effort in the finger guns he gives the two as they both also tune their guitars.

“All good.” Hector hums and taps the body on his guitar after he’s finished tuning.

“Same here.” Sam answers and plucks some stings, creating a dark, harmonious hum.

“Alright! Now let’s get back in the game!” Jackson yells and it overall pumped up, he manifests his drumsticks in his sticks and twirls them. His attitude is contagious as the rest also feel pumped up.

“Ladies and Gentlemen…” The Landlord’s voice is heard and instantly all five members of the band go silent waiting for the words “May I introduce the fallen band, Rose Of Blasphemy!”

There’s a cheer and the boys feel their excitement grow as they enter the stage.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the adventure.

CHAPTER 1

There are plants in this world that range from strong to petite, those that take specifics to grow, and those that accept all situations, or those that choose to perish.

Like Music, each flower has its own beat. A Rose is faint and is as fragile as glass, much like the perfection of ballet. A Rose of Jericho can face death and rebirth itself into something living yet again, much like Death Metal symbolising death and horror itself, evolving into meaning. How Touch-me-nots are easy going but bloom to die, leaving an explosive memory, much like many genres, such as Pop, Electro and Classical.

Growing every individual flower, tree, shrub, can never be predicted. You can give your all, but it won’t bloom. You might not care and it will still bloom. Much like souls, many plants don’t give a fuck what you think, but will be happy when you give them suitable living conditions.

But despite the agony of giving blood, sweat and tears, seeing the small petals show themselves for the first time is just as rewarding as taking a nice cold shower after a hard day of work. The beautiful thin, velvet purple bulbs and the leafless green petals starring around the foothold of the bulb standing brilliantly on the stems. A beauty among the decaying autotrophic matter.

In its few seconds of life… This mother fucking bastard decides to ruin it all.

It’s two weeks before the extermination, and Charlie is happy to report that she and Vaggie have acquire their first patron!

“Hun, I know you’re excited, but you need to think this through.” Vaggie states carefully as they both walk down the street and Charlie does this little dance. She’s adorable, but she really needs to think. The guy they just took in is a famous porn star.

“I know! But, I’m so excited!” Charlie cheers and hops in her path. She has a patron! That’s one soul she can save!

“Look, he’s someone you don’t expec-” Vaggie’s suddenly interrupted by some arse crashing into Charlie. Both fall to the ground and instantly Vaggie pulls out her harpoon and points it to the Demon after she stands over Charlie “Who are you?!”

“He’s going to kill me!” The Demon tries to get up and keeps slipping on his elbows and knees. Vaggie and Charlie move back once the princess is on her feet but they all feel a dark presence nearby. The Demon shrieks “I don’t wanna die!”

“There you are, you little cunt.”

A dark figure suddenly rushes in and the Demon shrieks being grabbed by vine-like tentacles. The Demon controlling them appears pissed off. Alexander, in all his glory.

Vaggie slashes at his vines and he retracts them, Alexander puts his focus on her briefly before rushing at the shrieking demon that’s trying to get up.

Charlie manages to zoom in front of him with her arms out “Nope! No! Don’t do it!”

Vaggie chases the poor demon off and his shrieks can still be heard even when he’s out of sight. She hears Charlie struggling to keep the Deer Demon back and she holds her harpoon up and goes to attack.

“No! Come on! What did he even do?!” Charlie yells and manages to grab Alexander’s wrist to keep him still.

“HE STOMPED ON MY CRYPTOSTYLIS HUNTERIANA!” Alexander roars out and both girls stare. He takes the chance to get around them but Vaggie trips him while Charlie stands there confused. Alexander gets back up and faces the two, if there are words to describe how pissed he is, currently they cannot describe it.

After a while of calming him down, Alexander becomes completely embarrassed and distraught at how he acted.

Charlie is trying to soothe him as he’s hiding himself behind his hair in total mortification.

“Hey, it’s okay…” Charlie manages to get a hug in and Alexander doesn’t mind, but he doesn’t hug back “Everyone has those days, you’ll be okay.”

“Who are you?” Vaggie still has her harpoon out but she’s not pointing it at him. It’s there just in case.

“Pardon, how rude of me…” Alexander sniffles but he pulls his hair back to tidy himself up. “My name is Alexander.”

“Hi, Alexander, my name’s Charlie.” Charlie introduces herself and she pulls Vaggie over to introduce her “And this is Vaggie.”

“Pleasure…” Vaggie crosses her arms looking up at him in distrust.

“Pleasure is mine, Love.” Alexander finishes tidying himself up.

“Anyway… are you okay?” Charlie asks hesitantly.

“Yes, I’m quite alright now.” Alexander clears his throat and he puts on a smile.

“What’s a Crypta stylish hunter rianna?” Vaggie asks and Alexander stares at her for a bit in confusion before getting what she’s asking.

“Oh, you mean Cryptostylis hunteriana?” Alexander asks then he groans, he pulls his hair in front of his eyes again and hides as he moves back on a wall. He slinks down into a sitting position in total defeat while Charlie comes over and tries to pat him on the back as he wails softly “He killed them!”

“Hey, come on, you’re okay…” Charlie tries to soothe while Vaggie watches on. Like Charlie, she’s completely confused by what is happening. Charlie takes initiative and she pulls Alexander up by the arm, she pushes his hair to the side to look him in the eyes “Come on, we’ll get you some tea to calm down.”

“That sounds lovely, thank you…”

They arrive and Alexander is amazed at the size of the place. It’s huge! Is that the Titanic? Oh boy, it looks to elegant, the entire thing! “Happy Hotel”? That sounds nice.

“Welcome to my hotel!” Charlie announces and Alexander gives a brief clap before they head inside.

And like that, all thought of prestigious and glamorous first impressions disappear. This place is so dirty.

Alexander frowns slightly looking around. Cobwebs, spider webs, dust. Really dirty.

“I’ll go get some tea!” Charlie announces cheerfully and she bounds off, Vaggie goes with her.

When the girls are out of sight, Alexander looks around again and spies another demon on a couch, he’s a pink and white spider. It’s interesting colour scheme in hell, seeing as the combination are overall soft. It’s very pretty.

The Spider notices him and he winks. Alexander flinches. What?

“Hey, babe, you work here too?” The Spider stands and walks over and Alexander steps back slightly unsure of how to continue with this. The Spider stands in front of him and manages to wrap his arms around him, Alexander looks down blushing slightly as he contemplates whether or not this Spider is male or female. The fluff looks convincing. “Aww, why so shy? Want a special massage to calm the nerves, honey? I’ll even give you a discount.”

“P-pardon…?” Alexader stutters. Is this demon an escort? What is this place?

“And British too, what a special one I have here.” The Spider slips a hand behind and plays with Alexander’s hair, the Deer’s blush reddens feeling it being curled “So, what do you say, babe? Wanna take me for a ride?”

“I do apologise…” Alexander begins but he doesn’t know this man’s name.

“The name’s Angel Dust, Sugar.” Angel answers as he bats his eyes seductively as Alexander stutters.

“Yes, Angel Dust. I apologise, but I am in a committed relationship.” Alexander explains awkwardly and there seems to be a light switch going off in Angel’s mind.

“Oh well, your loss.” Angel immediately unwraps the deer and Alexander pulls a strand of hair in front of his face still flustered. How did he change moods so quickly? He sees Angel lie on the couch and lounge, spreading his limbs everywhere to make himself comfortable. Alexander stands there unsure what to do and he flinches when Angel looks at him “So, babe, what’re you here for?”

“The Girls are making me tea…” Alexander answers nervously and he rubs his arm, but he manages to maintain eye contact. “M-may I ask why you’re here, Love?”

“I signed up for this shitty idea that Red-Cheeks has.” Angel answers simply and he sits up.

“Pardon?” Alexander is more confused than before.

“She and Moth-A-Bye want to redeem demons.” Angel laughs.

Alexander is still confused.

Charlie had come back with a tray with a teapot and teacups, Vaggie is beside her. Both see Alexander sitting next to Angel, looking nervous while Angel flirts with him.

“Aww, come on Cutie, let me see your tats.” Angel leans in and Alexander hides behind his hair and curls up with his kneels to his chest to hide his arms. Both girls can see pink down his next, so they guess he’s blushing.

“Angel! He’s uncomfortable!” Charlie raises her voice slightly and Angel backs off crossing his arms. She places the tray down and pours Alexander a cup. He nods in thanks and takes a sip before Charlie could warn him about how hot it is, but he’s fine. He smiles, it’s delicious. “So, Alexander, tell us about yourself.”

“Well… umm…” Alexander stutters his words before deciding to scull down the rest of the tea, he doesn’t mind the burning down his throat. He likes it, just how tea’s meant to be. He places the cup down and he plays with his fingers feeling all three stare at him “That-that depends what you want to know, Love.”

“If the lobby’s bothering you, we can take you outside.” Vaggie offers and Alexander nods enthusiastically.

“Okay! We have a garden, so we can go out there!” Charlie states and Alexander stands up immediately, he’s eager to see it. “Come with me, it’s just over here!”

Alexander is in complete awe. It’s huge. Many bushes. Many flowers. A few trees. And it’s flowering season which should have made this more… Wow… But… Oh Lord, it’s fucking dead!

“What the fuck did you do?!” Alexander yells and rushes into the garden to look around.

He starts ranting and walking around to assess all the bushes and flowers, Charlie and Vaggie look at themselves confused and a little awkward seeing their new acquaintance rush around gasping and reacting over all negatively to all the dead plants.

“How did you do this?” He pulls out a bush from the weeds and he shakes it – all its leaves fall off and all that’s left is a sad excuse of wood “I don’t even know how you could damage this so bad!”

Alexander yells in anguish seeing the flower bed. Charlie Angel and Vaggie watch as he freaks out sees the dead flower bed.

“How did you kill these?! The ground’s wet!” Alexander picks a dead daisy and shows it too them. He rushes around again to assess more damages

Angel leans over to the two girls and whispers “So, where did you get the flower dork?”

“We met him when he tried to kill someone.” Vaggie answers while still watching the deer zoom around.

“Ha! What did they do? Squish some flowers?” Angel jokes as he’s standing back up straight.

“Yes.” Alexander is looking over with a dark aura, all three flinch and step back at the sight, Alexander snaps out of it and continues to walk around while the trio are confused, he pulls out a weed “You guys have so many weeds too! Do you even garden?”

“I thought those were flowers…” Charlie mumbles, but it appears Alexander could hear her.

“Love, no, just no.” Alexander pulls out another weed and ignores the thorns penetrating his skin and making his bleed a single running bullet of blood. He’s used to it, it’s no biggie.

Charlie watches as he throws the weed away and pulls out another one. He sure knows his stuff, maybe he can help? “Can you work here?”

“Pardon?” Alexander pauses his weed pulling to look at her. Vaggie glances to her as well on concern.

“Can you work here?” Charlie repeats and she hops over to pulls the weed out of his hand “Can you help us build the garden?”

“Umm…” Alexander watches as she flings the weed off somewhere else and he holds his hand in his other when it begins stinging.

“Please, I can pay you.” Charlie insists and leans in.

“I don’t charge much to begin with, but since you offered… Sure, I don’t see a reason why not.” Alexander smiles down at the girl and she beams.

Then she gasps “Do you have a place to stay? You can stay here!”

“No, that’s unnecessary, I have residence in my place of work.” Alexander assures her holding his hands up.

Charlie looks to his bleeding hand in worry as she asks “Where’s that?”

“Note String’s Club.” Alexander answers simply.

“The Tavern?” Charlie asks as she offers her hand, he places his wounded on in hers. She pats his hand to look at his small wound “That’s the one with the… band?”

“Yeah, Rose of Blasphemy.” Alexander smiles. He’s so proud of it. So many fans nowadays, and so much money they bring in. His Boss is happy with them and as long as he’s happy, the band has more freedom when picking songs.

Charlie had taken Alexander back inside to fix up his hand. Vaggie is off somewhere and Alexander believes that Angel is in his room.

Both Charlie and Alexander are seated on a couch, he’s currently watching as she is cleaning his wound and admiring his tattoos. He doesn’t blame her, they’re clean and the flowers look pretty, and it doesn’t seem like she dislikes the thorns.

“They’re pretty.” Charlie compliments as she grazes her thumb over the crocus on his arm. Alexander nods in thanks as Charlie slowly guide her fingers down his arm to spy the array of petals and flowers aligning the black vines, until they stop at his elbow, then on is just the vine. Charlie traces the vine and pulls some of his skin to get a better look at the ink work. Alexander smiles at her fascination, it’s cute. “It’s so clean and clear… so detailed… where in Hell did you get these done?”

“They were just on me when I fell.” Alexander explains and holds out his other hand so Charlie could see the flower garden on his skin. He laughs when she realises that she neglected his wound and quickly finishes the wrap “Although, I’m still a bit sore about not being able to choose them, I’ve never had a tattoo before I came to Hell.”

“Well, I think that they’re pretty cool.” Charlie announces in a bubbly tone and she gets up to reach back to get something, Alexander sees that it is a book.

Alexander pulls his hand back to admire her handiwork, the bandaging it wrapped tightly and clean, to the point of perfection. He glances to her as she searches through the book, it’s thin but has a lot of papers and pages hanging out he now sees. But, despite her quickly flicking through, he saw the cover. It read “redemption”.

“What is it that you hope to achieve, Love?” He asks while placing his hand down on his lap, he watches as she pauses then slowly close the book to look at him.

“I don’t want the exterminations to be the only way that we can solve over population…” Charlie takes Alexander’s uninjured hand and he smiles slightly at how sincere she sounds “I want everyone to have a second chance, because… well, everyone has good inside them, and if we can use that, we can redeem them!”

“It certainly sounds promising, Love.” Alexander compliments and holds his tongue in politeness. It sounds so naïve but it is still promising even though no demon has ever been redeemed. But, he guesses everyone deserves a second chance. There are… questionable reasons why some people are here… “How exactly does one get redeemed?”

“Well… by doing no sins.” Charlie answers awkwardly. Has she not figured this out?

“Explain?” Alexander tilts his head and leans down slightly to see what the book is, but Charlie had put it by her side so he can’t see it.

“No fighting, no cursing, no listening to evil music, no drugs, no alcohol.” Charlie lists of and lets go of Alexander’s hands to count her fingers. Alexander’s smile shifts nervously hearing “Evil Music.” He knows what that means. Heavy metal, Rock, Hip Hop, Jazz, and Death Metal. This will be difficult. “Just things that are starters.”

“How does music affect this?” Alexander asks and he holds his arms.

“Because some songs promote violence, sex, and sinning in general.” Charlie sees his smile and figures he’s guilty of it. It’s no biggie… technically.

“I don’t think I’d be able to commit to that, unfortunately, Love.” Alexander states awkwardly and he feels sweat going down his back. He really can’t commit to that.

“We’ll work through it.” Charlie insists. If only she knew.

Alexander unlocks the door and spins around to lock it again once he enters it. It’s closed since it’s late and this day isn’t great with most customers.

“Where have you been?” Alexander looks to the bar and sees his Landlord, he’s cleaning glasses and raising an eyebrow at the buck. Alexander nervously laughs and rubs his arm, the Landlord narrows his eyes slightly making him flinch “You’ve cause a disturbance with your friends, and you’ve left them to do most of the work.”

“Someone squished my leafless tongue-orchid…” Alexander mumbles but it’s loud enough for his Boss to hear.

“If it wasn’t for your energy and your band, I would have kicked you out already.” The Landlord sighs and holds the bridge of his nose while Alexander continues to smile and stand at the door awkwardly. He looks at the Deer again and flicks his head to the stairs “Bed. I’m giving you more chores.”

“Course, Sir…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I would like to announce that this story is not mine, I am not the author, but the assistant. I got permission to publish this story on here.  
> Reddit User Brutalistboi designed the characters and the story itself, I just simply helped write it.
> 
> So, as the assistant, I would like to ask, on behalf of both of us, that you would enjoy this story and be patient with updates,


	3. Chapter 2

Alexander sits in the breakroom staring at the TV in waiting. It’s been a few weeks since he’s met Charlie, Vaggie and Angel Dust, and he’s quite amazed how much Angel has improved in these few weeks, for the most part anyway, he still flirts with him and still does some inappropriate things that the girls don’t approve of, but it’s Angel Dust, you can’t expect him to go completely clean. And just after the extermination, it’s just what they need.

He’s also learnt a little more about what Charlie and Vaggie want to do, and he finds it kind of honourable. Hey, he doesn’t want to die in an extermination, and as naïve as it is, it’s a good second option. Why die when you could just better yourself to go to heaven? It’s a good plan.

Of course it’s near impossible, but since when is the impossible actually impossible? This is Hell.

But then again, their plan is kind of… loose. No physical interactions, no harmful mischievous acts, no problematic language. Sure, he sees how it can help, but he doubts it could actually work. You can’t expect demons to just… _drop_ their old habits. Isn’t it a process? Like rehab?

Also, no “Satanic” or “Crude” music, no sex before Marriage, and all that good Christian stuff. He finds this problematic.

Yeah, sure, it’s for the greater cause, but how does Music affect your chances getting redeemed? Is music even mentioned in the Bible? Being the Hotel’s gardener is only a side job, after all, he has a role for where he is now, so he’s not in the program… _yet_ , as Charlie puts it.

Alexander feels a weight on his antlers and he smiles hearing quiet chatter and ruffling of feathers. Oli. Oli the Raven, Alexander’s very own animal companion.

Oli is an odd little fellow. Hell’s variety of animals is limited, very limited, so it was a surprise when Alexander first found him.

_It was a normal day a few months back, Alexander was tasked with gardening the Tavern’s special garden, and when he finished he was allowed to tend his own. His garden had more variety, more flowers and herbs. Overall, more colourful, and he can make so many different bouquets._

_The thing was, when he entered his garden, he heard flapping noises and quiet squawks. It was strange, and there had been idiots that tried to steal produce before, so Alexander grabbed the shovel before slowly advancing to where he heard the sound._

_At the other side of the garden._

_His steps were more cautious the closer he got to the sound. He eventually locates it in the Multiflora Rose. He used the shovel to lift the bottom on the bush, and he was ready to beat the ever living shit out of the intruder, but he didn’t._

_In the bush was a small black feathered creature. It’s wing was caught in the bush and it doesn’t look too good either… Alexander saw small blue eyes looking at him, and the little bird thing flapped its wings letting out strangled squawks, it was still tangled in the bush so it wasn’t going anywhere._

_Alexander watched as it tired itself out before he reached in, the Bird thing squawked again and Alexander felt it bite his fingers and he pulled back._

_“Ouch! You little bugger…” Alexander reached in again and pulled the bird out quick. It shrieked and Alexander’s poor ears had to get accustomed to it. At lease he could see what type of bird it was, it was not every day you see a raven._

_Alexander had placed the raven down so he could quickly do his gardening, placing it on the dirt and occasionally checking up on it each time he watered a different plant._

_It calmed down, but the instant Alexander heard flapping he finished everything up quickly to grab the raven. Immediately, it began shrieking again._

_Later that day, he managed to make is a little cardboard box nest for it. He figured out it was sick, and he felt a little bad for it. It must had been all the smoke and stuff Hell had to make it so ill. It had stopped shrieking for now and it was swaddled up in some spare hand towels, and the silence was rewarding._

_For two weeks, Alexander had cared for the raven and named it Oli so he could talk to it whenever he wanted. And Oli had calmed down tremendously with the assistance of minced meat and water, and he chattered whenever Alexander was seen. It was cute._

_But then came the time Oli had to be released. He had made it known that he could fly when he flew around Alexander’s room creating chaos for the Buck._

_So, the moment Alexander had caught Oli, he had carefully taken him outside. Into his garden, he had flattened his hands to let the raven fly off._

_Except, he didn’t. Oli stayed perched on his hands._

_Alexander tried to throw him up but Oli stayed seated and chattered softly as Alexander tried to get him to fly off._

_When he had given up, Oli began whistling. Alexander had given him a soft glare, but he smiled. This bird wanted to stay._

_“You want to stay?” Alexander asks, and Oli had continued whistling but he had stood up to hop on Alexander’s hands. How was Alexander going to explain to his boss that he now had a pet? Or, at the very least, a raven that did not want to leave? Oh well, he grew a little affectionate to him too. “Fine, you can stay.”_

_Upon hearing Alexander’s agreement to “adopt” him, Oli stopped whistling and chattered while walking up Alexander’s arm. Alexander’s smile widened only slightly when he tried to get Oli to step up on his hand, but instead the raven flew up. Alexander yelped but looked around not seeing Oli._

_He heard the chatter and he glanced up seeing Oli’s blue eyes staring back at him. He was on his antlers._

“Hey Oli.” Alexander reaches up and the Raven hops on his fingers. He hops back on his antlers and roosts, letting out smaller crows and whistles.

“Alex, you coming out?” Alexander looks over seeing Jackson and Oli chatters again when he sees the Spider. He doesn’t look pleased; he looks a little annoyed despite his smile.

“Nah, a mate of mine’s on the Telly.” Alexander smiles and Jackson sighs dramatically.

“I have to cover your shift again?”

“I’ll cover the late shift.”

“Fine.” Jackson groans exasperated and looks to the screen seeing the 666 News “Your mate better be damn important.”

“Oh, she’s important alright…” Alexander mumbles and looks back to the television. He hears the door close and wonders how long he has until he’s found out again.

The News gives its own little introduction and Hell’s most favoured News Broadcaster rolls up. “Good afternoon! I’m Katie Killjoy.”

“And I’m Tom Trench.” Her cohost introduced himself and they go right into it even pulling up photos of the offenders. “Chaos at Pentagram city today as a turf war is raging on the west side between notable king Sir Pentious and self-proclaimed spunky powerhouse Cherri Bomb.”

“That’s right Tom! After the recent extermination, many areas are now up for grabs!” There’s a cut scene to the battle field between the Snake and Cyclops. It’s near brutal if it doesn’t look funny “demons all over Hell are already duking it out to gain new territory!”

“Those two seem to really be going at it, huh?”

“Looks like they’re fighting tooth and nail for that hot spot!” Alexander shivers seeing her swallow the literal tooth and nail she popped out of nowhere. What is this Lady made of?

“And I’d sure like to nail _her_ hot spot!” Tom gives a short chuckle at his joke.

“You are a limp dick jackass, Tom. Or should I say-” Katy giggles and splashes her coffee on Tom’s lap. He lets out a squeaked grunt and Alexander closes his legs slightly almost feeling his pain “No dick!”

“-Not again!”

Alexander can’t believe these two half the time. Such behaviour would never reach the News when he was alive.

“Coming up next, we have an exclusive interview with the daughter of Hell’s own head honcho, who’s here to discuss her brand-new passion project!” A photo of Charlie pops up and Alexander sits up to pay attention. Oli flaps his wings to balance himself as a result.

Alexander ignores Tom’s pained wincing and whimpers to smile. Finally, Charlie gets her spotlight.

“All that and more, after the break!” Katy breaks her mug and growls at her cohost “Suck it up you little bi-”

Wow…

Alexander waits for the commercial to finish. It should be a few minutes, and hopefully Charlie can perform well.

Speaking of perform…

Their next performance is soon, and they haven’t decided what songs to play.

Jackson has been working on doing some complicated percussion techniques, and honestly, Alexander is impressed. Having four arms help with the whole ordeal, yeah, but it’s still impressive.

Hector and Sam had been working together to improve their strumming and overall play their guitars. And playing along with the speakers. Alexander’s starting to think that they’re messing around instead.

Brandon and him are currently going over songs to perform. All of them know how to play each song they know, but they need to spice it up with songs they haven’t played yet.

The sound of the intro snaps Alexander back in line.

“Welcome back!” Alexander holds his neck seeing Katy’s snap like that. What is she made off? What the Fuck is wrong with her? Katy turns to Charlie who is seated next to her and Alexander settles down a little seeing his friend appear on the screen. All he can think of is one thing; please don’t sing. “So, Charlotte.”

“It’s Charlie.” Charlie corrects and Katy blows her off.

“Whatever.” Katy then intenses every word she says with a click of a pen “Tell us about this new passion project you’ve been insistently pestering our news station about!”

“Well…” Charlie appears nervous and she’s looking off screen, probably at Vaggie. She clears her throat and breathes out to calm down “As most of you know, I was born here in Hell, and growing up, I always tried to see the good in everything around me.”

Alexander sees Katy stab a bug and the blood spatters on Charlie’s cheek. Disgusting.

“Hell is my home, and you are my people.” Charlie wipes her cheek and “We- we just went through another extermination. We lost so many souls, and it breaks my heart to see my people being slaughtered every year.”

She stands up at the desk, all the meanwhile Katy Killjoy dozes off. How professional…

“No one is even given a chance!” Charlie slams her fist on the desk and Katy jolts awake, “I can’t stand idly by while the place I live is subjected to such violence!”

She’s walking into the crowd; the camera follows as she interacts with the weirded out demons.

“So, I’ve been thinking. Isn’t there a more humane way to hinder overpopulation here in Hell? Perhaps we can create an alternative way to change souls through… redemption?” Charlie asks.

There’s a brief moment of silence before Charlie wraps an arm around a red demon.

“Well I think yes. So that’s what this project aims to achieve!” Charlie walks out to the audience and the cameras follow, she interacts with them in a calm manner. She moves back to the desk and sits down. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m opening the first of its kind! A hotel that rehabilitates sinners!”

There’s an uncomfortable silence on the Television.

“Y’know? ‘Cause hotels are for people passing through… temporarily.” Charlie’s losing it.

“Come on Charlie, don’t lose focus…” Alexander leans forward

“I figure it would serve a purpose… a place work towards redemption!” Charlie sinks down slightly in her seat as she utters out a weak “Yay…”

No… Charlie don’t lose it, you were doing so well…

“Look, every single one of you has something good deep down inside. I know you do.” Alexander sees a small smile. Oh no. No. No, no, no. Don’t do it. Charlie, don’t do it. “Maybe I’m not getting through to you.”

“Oh no.” Alexander groans and falls back covering his face, Oli flaps his wings to balance himself while Alexander peaks through his fingers at the screen. Charlie snaps her fingers and she’s suddenly sitting on the piano that somehow manifested on the desk.

“I have a dream I’m here to tell.” Charlie begins singing and her little goats, Rzzle and Dazzle, play the piano in the background.

Alexander groans again hiding his face “No…”

Alexander hears it all end and he sighs. Finally!

He sits up and he feels Oli adjust himself too. The Raven curled and shrunk to drown out the singing. Animals can only tolerate so much cringe.

Charlie is seen panting on the screen arms out, the studio is silent. Alexander leans forward slightly in anticipation. The Song wasn’t that bad, but…

“Wow! That was shit!”

The studio laughs uncontrollably and Alexander holds his cheek feeling a little bad for Charlie. Poor girl put her heart and soul into this project.

“What in the nine circles makes you think a single denizen of _Hell_ would give two shits about becoming a better person?” Katy laughs and further embarrasses the girl. Bitch. “You have no proof that this little experiment even _works_! You want people to be _good_ just… _because_?”

The audience continues to laugh with her.

“Well, we have a patron already who believes in our cause, and he’s shown incredible progress!” Charlie speaks up, her confidence is showing again. That’s a good sign. Angel has made progress! This is good. God, if you’re real, please, for the love of all that is good, please, please, please! Do not let Charlie get humiliated any further!

“Oh? And who might that be?” Katy asks smiling but narrowing her eyes.

“Oh, just someone named… Angel Dust.” Charlie is checking her nails and looking even more confident. She has a right to.

“The porn star?” Tom pipes up to ask. Is that a zipper Alexander hears?

“You fucking would, Tom.” Katy turns to him scratching her nails on the desk, Tom looks away intimidated by her. Katy then turns back to Charlie, totally dismissing her. “In any case, that’s not even an accomplishment. I’m sure you can get that hooker to do anything with enough booger sugar and lube.”

Bitch.

“Oh, I beg to differ.” Charlie faces her and counts her fingers all that Angel has done “He’s been behaved, clean, and out of trouble for 2 weeks now.”

Katy holds a finger to her ear and pushes Charlie away with a crash “ _Breaking news!”_

“We are receiving word that a new player has entered the ongoing turf war! Let’s go to the live feed!” Katy informs then turns to the screen beside her.

Alexander leans forward eyes widen and jaw agape in disbelief. On the screen is Angel. That fucking idiot! He’s in the turf war?!

“Oh shit.” Charlie has the same expression as him. Alexander groans and hears a faint “I’m a baaaad person!” from the news, it sounds like Angel but he’s far too disappointed to care.

“Oh shit indeed! It looks like the one who just joined the battle is none other than-” Katy gives a fake gasp “-porn actor Angel Dust! What a juicy coincidence!”

Bitch.

“You must feel really stupid right now.” Katy directs to Charlie and she laughs with her cohost “Ratings!”

Charlie gasps and attempts to hide the screen “Don’t look at this!”

“Well, it sure looks like your little project is dead on arrival.” Katy looms over Charlie and Alexander has just about enough of this bugger. “Tell us, how does it feel to be such a total failure?”

Katy proceeds to laugh and the rest of the studio joins her. Alexander holds his nose and sighs. It’s not going to end well…

“Yeah? Well- how does it feel that I got your pen, huh?” He hears Charlie ask. I she trying to start a fight? It’s not a good starter. He can think of a better way to piss someone off. “ _Bitch?!_ ”

Never mind, that seemed to set Katy off.

Charlie laughs nervously while putting the pen down “Oops.”

Katy proceeds to loom over the princess in her true demon form. Redder eyes, more arms, claws, the works. It’s only intimidating because she’s tall and has a temper that has its own reputation. Alexander sees Tom whistle and run away. Wise man.

Alexander looks away as the two proceed to fight. He reaches for the remote that minute Tom is seen on fire.

He shuts off the Television holding his face… this is so bad…

“Alex!”

“Yeah, I’m coming!” Alexander stands up and Oli flies off to his perch and bowls of food and water. Alexander waves at him “Don’t worry, Oli, I’ll fix things later.”

Alexander’s shift finally ends and he’s hurries to get things packed up from the Break Room and his room. Oli is on his antlers and chattering as he bustles around.

Alexander manages to organise two bouquets in his room from the rainforest of a garden he has. Calla Lilies and White Irises seem appropriate; he would have used blue Irises but Hell only has so many flowers. He might as well make a small one for Angel too. Yes, a small bouquet of Ranunculus seems appropriate.

Oli hops on his Antlers and crows when he’s stepped up on Alexander’s fingers and put on his perch next to the Buck’s bed. Alexander smiles at his whining companion “I’m sorry, but I’m in a hurry.”

With that, he runs out.

Alexander doesn’t question the giant crater as he trots to the Hotel’s entrance way. He holds the bouquets up so not to damage it and he ducks under some draping before noticing that the door’s gone. It’s all the way on the other side of the lobby.

How?

“Charlie? Vaggie?” Alexander enters the hotel and he is taken aback at the new area in the lobby, like it can straight from a casino. The Fire place is cleaner… hell, everything is cleaner. Albeit, the place is still cluttered in some areas but it’s cleaner. The Floorboards are redone, the walls look less grimy, the ghost fabrics are hidden, overall the place looks decent now. If only they had food.

Alexander hears some steps and static. He looks around again before seeing a red figure walking closer. He pales realising who is it…

Alastor.

The Fucking Radio Demon.

And Charlie is next to him! Talking and happy? What is going on?!

“Oh! Alexander!” Charlie prances over and Alastor doesn’t give him a glance as he walks off to entertain himself. Alexander side eyes him while offering Charlie the bouquet “Oh, they’re so pretty! Thank you!”

“It’s nothing, love.” Alexander glancing behind her seeing Vaggie and Angel coming out now too, both bickering quietly before they see him. Both come over and he offers them their bouquet. Vaggie takes hers with a while Angel gives him a cheeky kiss to the cheek. Angel winks at him and takes his leave to lounge on a couch while Vaggie stands next to Charlie with a concerned smile. Alexander holds a smile before leaning down and, in a hushed whisper, asks “Why the fuck is the fucking Radio Demon here?”

“He agreed to help out!” Charlie informs happily while Vaggie looks to the side nervous. She must know what he’s thinking. What the fuck?

Alexander pauses. He stares at the two with an expressionless face as he can practically hear the loading windows 90-something edition load in his mind. Charlie powers down and she nervously looks at Vaggie who is looking at her equally nervous. Both stare at him waiting as he processes what has been said.

He stays silent before finally saying, in a deep dark voice "What?"

“He agreed to-”

"No. I heard you, love." He holds his hands to his face and sighs out a growl. He lowers his hands and tenses them in front of him as he looks Charlie in the eye "You made a deal with the fucking Radio Demon?"

Charlie laughs nervously while holding her bouquet, Vaggie rubs her arms deciding to stay quiet for now "W-Well...not technically but… yeah?"

Alexander is silent again, his eye twitches once. Both Charlie and Vaggie look at each other nervous. Then he finally says "Are you insane?"

"Well come on he seems like he could be a big help" Charlie insists and holds her bouquet close to her face to hide herself from him, but she’s brave enough to keep eye contact.

"He also looks like he's going to kill me in my sleep, Charlie." Alexander groans and pulls his hair and pulling it in front of his face, irritated and goddamn frustrated. What is this girl thinking?! "And how do you know he's not going to burn the hotel to the ground?"

"Well I couldn't just turn him away." Charlie replies a little exasperated.

"Charlie..." Alexander whines out a groan and he hides his face with his hair. "Why...?"

Charlie then confidently and hearteningly replies with "It would go against everything I'm trying to achieve here and everyone deserves a chance at redemption."

"And what makes you think he can be redeemed?" Alexander peeks at her and he slowly lowers his arms to cross them. "Love, I understand what you're trying to do, but you need to understand that demons like him aren't at all like you."

“That’s what I tried to tell her…” Vaggie mumbles quietly and Alexander manages to hear it.

Then Charlie pipes up again saying "But he can really help. He sounded so sincere when he said he wanted to help run the hotel! And we need everything we can get our hands onto to get our cause up and running! What else could I have done? He's our best shot."

"Charlie, Love, you have to-" Then he notices it. The Garden. The Shapes through the window are off. He goes silent in a scary way before his voice goes dark yet again, but deeper as he sounds infuriated "What happened to the garden?"

“Well…” Charlie starts off unsure of how to proceed. Alexander is scary when plants are involved. “After Alastor came, the Kingpin from the News came along and shot a missile at the Hotel and-”

"I beg your pardon, Charlie, he shot a fucking what at the hotel?"

Charlie then responds with "Uhhhh… missile?”

"A missile...?" Alexander hums and clenches his fists. He looks to the Garden again and his eyes go wide fearing the worst "It didn't hit the garden, did it? It didn't blow up the flowers and shrubbery? The trees? Please tell me it didn't Charlie."

Instead of saying anything Charlie just nervously looks away. Vaggie holds her hand and doesn’t look Alexander in the eye.

Alexander’s face drops seeing their lack of response and he hurries to the garden.

Vaggie and Charlie stand there waiting. There’s silence. Pure, agonising silence. For a second they believe he’s taking it well before they hear his yell of anger… followed by the most sorrowful cry they've ever heard him make.

Charlie and Vaggie had fully expected seeing him rush back inside and stand in front of them. He looks calm but they know better.

“Who was it again?” Alexander is holding Charlie and Vaggie’s shoulders. Both smile nervously.

“My, my! What a set of lungs!” Alexander straightens up hearing that voice and he looks over to see Alastor close. He moves away slightly from the other deer and Alastor doesn’t seem to be offended from his lack of coming forward, in fact, he’s more intrigued. “Ah! Who may this be?”

“Alastor, this is Alexander, he’s our gardener.” Charlie introduces the Black Deer and Alexander rubs his arm nervously in front of the Red Deer. Fuck, this isn’t good, not at all.

“It’s a pleasure!” Alastor puts out a hand and Alexander hesitantly puts his out to shake hands with him. He smiles amused at how wary the taller deer is acting.

“Pleasure’s mine…” Alexander replies timidly and he takes his hand back.

“Oh, where are my manners? I must introduce my associates.” Alastor clicks his hands and there’s a red flame behind him. Alexander watches as it goes out and two more demons show up. A cat and a… little cyclops. She looking fucking adorable. “Wouldn’t want you all to spook each other, now would we?”

“Who the fuck are you?” The Cat asks as he’s crossing his arms while the cyclops zooms over.

“Finally! A man! Sorry, that’s rude. Hi, I’m Niffty! Let me get a look at you!” The Little Cyclops zooms around Alexander and he’s having trouble keeping up with her. Why is she so fast? And what was that she said about “Finally?” She’s so full of energy…

“Umm, Pardon me, Niffty dear, what are you…?” Alexander hands on the question as he follows Niffty’s movements. How is he meant to talk to someone that’s not stopping?

“Oh, I like a man with clean ink!” Alexander’s suddenly on his knees and he yelps before his arms are caressed, Niffty seems fascinated by his tattoos. He laughs nervously before cheeks are held. He looks into Niffty’s eye “So where have you been pretty boy?”

“Umm... work?” Alexander answers awkwardly and pulls back.

“Really?” Niffty leans forward and Alexander continues to lean back.

"Yes! Work." Alexander stands up and he sees Niffty pout. He puts a loose strand of hair back and looks to Charlie who is just as confused as he is. Then to Vaggie who didn’t look any better. He holds in a sigh, deciding to give the last guy a go. Alexander looks to the Cat who appears like he doesn’t give a shit.

It seems like Alastor didn’t like this so he’s walking up to the Cat and he wraps an arm around his shoulders “Come now, my friend! Introduce yourself to our co-worker!”

“I couldn’t give a fuck if I wanted.” The Cat growls and Alastor manifests a bottle of beer in his palm in front of him. How he did that is beyond Alexander’s comprehension. The Cat takes the bottle with a grumble “The Name’s Husk.”

“Alexander, nice to meet you.” Alexander tugs some of his hair. This is so strange.

“Yeah, whatever.” The Cat walks off to the couch where Angel is. The Spider attempts to Flirt but Husk goes right by him to the bar. Brutal.

“So, Alexander, tell me…” Alastor comes closer and Alexander glances to Charlie in worry who is giving him a thumbs up. Alexander holds his hands behind his back when the Red Deer is closer than he’d like “Why is it now that you have arrived?”

“Gardening is my second job.” Alexander answers nervously “I work at The Note String’s Club.”

“Interesting.” Alastor is seriously more terrifying in person… and he’s getting closer. Alexander and Alastor stare into each other’s eyes, and Alexander can practically feel the Red Deer reading him like a book. He laughs nervously and glances to Charlie who is trying to give him a supportive thumbs up.

“Um, Charlie, I think it’s a good idea that I leave now.” Alexander nervously announces and the Princess looks a little disappointed.

“Really?” Vaggie asks raising an eyebrow “You didn’t let Angel hug you yet.”

“I’d rather head back; my mates are going to wonder where I am. I said I’d do the late shift.” Alexander gives a wave and heads to the door “I’ll see you all tomorrow. Bye Angel!”

“What?! You’re leaving already?!”

Alexander walks out of the building ignoring the Spider’s yells.

Oh, the many things he wanted to say but couldn’t. For one, what the fuck just happened? For two, Why the fuck did that happen? Why did Charlie make an arrangement with the Radio Demon of all demons? He’ll twist everything to his liking, he’ll make a mockery of the hotel, and he’ll kill them all! What was Charlie thinking? Doesn’t she see the foreseeable future?

Alexander stops walking and looks back. He’s pretty far away now, he can hardly see the hotel’s sign. Now he thinks… who was that demon on the news again? Sir Pentious, was it?

Alexander is standing over the cobra in front of him, he’s on the ground battered and bruised and his hat was discarded elsewhere. Tracking him down was surprisingly more easy than he originally thought; it only took two hours. Then all he had to do was corner him in an alleyway and have a lovely _chat_ with him.

“Hopefully now you understand not to launch a missile to my garden.” Alexander sighs and dusts off his shirt. The Snake groans in response as Alexander hears his ringtone go off. He walks out of the alleyway into the light so he can read the text better.

The Text is from Jackson, _Mate, where the bloody hell are you? It’s nearly midnight! We need to plan our next concert._

Alexander texts back, _I had to do one last thing before I had to come back._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would still like to mention that this story is technically not mine, I got permission from the author to post it on here.  
> Reddit User thebrutalistboi asked me to help write and distribute this story so it could come to life.  
> So, as the assistant, I would like to say that I hope you guys will enjoy these reads.


	4. Chapter 3

“Is it me, or are we not getting much attention no more?” Sam asks aloud, he’s unloading his guitar back into its case. Elsewhere Hector nods in agreement while Brandon is next to the cat frowning as he’s unloading his bass guitar as well.

“Yeah, it sucks, doesn’t it?” The Wolf asks then he shakes his upper body to ease himself. He scratches behind his ear and continues on “You think it has something to do with the rumours?”

“Doubt it.” Alexander pipes up holding his throat and walking over. He glances to Jackson who is looking over his drum kit, the Spider has been acting a little weird today, wonder why. He ignores his concerns as hangs his arms on Sam and Brandon’s shoulders “Rumours are rumours, I mean, who in hell would care?”

“Do you really need to ask that?” Brandon asks and gets out of the embrace.

Alexander sighs silently and decides to stay quiet as goes off into his mind, rolling his shoulders back to ease some tension.

Sure, they had fun, like usual, but tonight’s gig was rough. Hardly anyone turned up. Yeah, a couple or so dozens of dozens showed up, a decent crowd, but not as much as their peak in Hell. They’ve been losing fans gradually in these few years.

Aside from the band’s lack of audience, these past few weeks have been hectic back at the hotel.

Ever since Alastor came along, he’s been making big changes.

First, he assigned Charlie to research her project properly. To be fair, it was a little unfastened how she thought only good behaviour would help. This change was mild.

Husk and Niffty did they’re jobs. Husk manned the front desk… even though it was obviously a bar. He did well for the most part; the cat sure knows his receptionist work. And Niffty… yeah, she cleaned up everything and all and he’s grateful that he doesn’t have to breathe in so much dust anymore but she’s… a bit much. Alexander had no idea whether or not telling her that he had a girlfriend effected anything at all… he often wonders if she let it go or is silently plotting something. For someone so cute, she is terrifying when she has her moments.

The place really got cleaned up, there’s food in the kitchen now, there’s no discarded boxes or furniture anymore and the paintings have been straightened. The place was doing well…

For the most part.

No other patrons came. This caused Charlie to search for alternative ways to advertise the Hotel. The average flier, word of mouth, a billboard that mysteriously got covered up by a murdering company, Alexander also thinks Charlie tried online advertisement but he doesn’t think that ended up well. But, he’s seen an ad in the newspapers recently and it looks pretty snazzy… if it wasn’t drowned out by all the sex ads and promotions for drugs.

But Angel’s still at the Hotel, he’s on watch for most of the day and is reframing from doing drugs and all that… It’s a big improvement but he still goes out to his job. There’s nothing no one can do about that, it’s Angel’s livelihood. He’ll hopefully get out. Hopefully.

Angel continues to flirt with Alexander when they’re both alone. Aside from trying to deflect most of Angel’s attempts and telling him that he’s in a relationship or turning into a complete sputtering mess, they do get along for the most part. Angel likes talking about his Pig, Fat Nuggets, of whom is totally  not in Angel’s room chilling out and pampered with a fluffy bed, hidey hole and has a little table that he eats from.  Absolutely not .

Oh, and Husk, oh boy. He’s fun when he’s on the piss! Husk gets looser, he gets a red blush and he’s quite loose lipped. Not fully, he liked commenting on people when you ask. He said Alexander was a “Weird, tall and edgy dork with a concerning obsession with flowers.” And Alexander thought it was hilarious! Too bad it doesn’t happen often, so far it’s only happened twice.

And, Alastor is actually not that bad to hang out with... occasionally. Granted, he still scares Alexander shitless, but he’s not too bad to sit down at the bar and chat with whenever Alexander’s taking a break or is wrapping his hands from thorn cuts. His jokes, even though classed as Dad, are pretty funny, even Alexander can admit he’s laughed a few times.

Vaggie during this time was reluctant to work with Alastor. Understandable on all sides of the notion. She would do some paperwork with Charlie, and overall sorting through finances for the Hotel’s assets. A Pool, a Jacuzzi, there’s a miniature theatre somewhere, the kitchen now has the most professional gear, the garden has more irrigation and a small koi pond! It doesn’t have any fish in it, but it has pretty black and white stones. So far at this time, Vaggie has told Alexander what to do these past few weeks. Garden.

After a while, Alastor made Vaggie join Charlie. This wouldn’t have so bad if what happened next didn’t happen, it almost made Alexander want to tear the bastard limb from limb if he wasn’t the Fucking Radio Demon.

Alastor made Alexander dig up all the plants in the garden! Even the live ones that still had a chance! Who does that?! At least he could keep some of them but… throwing them away… what a monster…

Granted, Alastor did offer him seeds and new bushes and shrubbery to rebuild his garden but their growing relationship hasn’t repaired much at all since then, but they “try”. For the sake of Charlie.

That girl really sees the “good” in everyone.

The garden is growing now, thankfully. The new bushes line up around the pathway to shield some of the flower saplings and to make a pretty swirl to align with the future flowerbeds. These bushes range from average shrubbery to succulents and giant flower bulbs. Overall, expensive, but pretty.

But Alastor… Oh, Alexander is trying so hard not to strangle him. Every day that he is there, Alastor is somehow changing his plans. Alexander went to plant Peonies near the entrance of the garden, Alastor wanted them farther away. Alaexander had begun trimming the bushes to a suitable size, Alastor made them grow out using some weird voodoo magic, stating  he wanted them bigger. And when Alexander was proud of the flowerbed he had made from buttercups, Alastor wanted him to pull them all out and scatter them!

Alexander swears, if Alastor makes him pull a whole bunch of his plants again, he swears he'll-

Alexander is suddenly lifted up from his tranced state of flashbackery. He goes to fight whomever lifted him up but he pauses feeling fluff on his neck and a pair of lips smash into his. 

He melts… he knows who’s kissing him.

Molly.

Oh, his love, the light of his life, his very own hyperactive angel. He would try to make a bouquet for her but no flower dares match her beauty, but he tries…

He’ll always remember the day he met her.

_A while after Alexander fell to hell, on a plain old day in Hell, customers were rowdy of usual._

_Alexander was on his break and sitting at the bar, being in Hell is such a change. For one, no one acts like a human. They do, but not entirely human._

_Only the bad qualities. Lust, Gluttony, etcetera. Basically all seven deadly sins._

_Alexander sighs and reaches over to his drink, a beer, on the house, sort of. It’s a complimentary drink for his performance, the rest of the band gets one too._

_He hears someone sit beside him and he glances over._

_A pink and white spider demon. He still thinks it’s a little freaky that spider demons have four arms and sometimes four legs as well in her case. But aside from her body’s appearance, she’s wearing a colourful pink dress with a striped long sleeved gloved black blouse and a pair of pink gloves on her second pair of arm. Her legs have stripped legging as well, or are those skinny boots? Either way, it’s really interesting. Oh, what a cute little bowtie. She’s really pretty too._

_“A glass of wine, please!” Her voice is like silk and freshly plucked cotton, a very bubbly voice. She looks over and Alexander smiles at her, she giggles. “Hi!”_

_“Good evening, Love.” Alexander glances to the bartender as he serves the glass, the spider smiles and takes it. She sips and keeps an eye on Alexander, for some reason he feels his cheek warm up. He sips his glass and decides to introduce himself “My name is Alexander; may I have your name?”_

_“I’m Molly!” Immediately, this Molly brightens up. Somehow. It almost seems impossible, but her smile is wider in a cute way._

_And after introductions, they hit it off right away. Molly is quite fun. She’s loud, very vocal, but in an excitable way. Her energy is contagious as well._

_They talked for hours. Molly couldn’t stop talking about her job and all the demons she meets every day, and how she often she has to kick the balls of perverts. She jokes, they laugh, he jokes, they both laugh at his attempts to be funny._

_Alexander has never met a demon like her. She’s… happy. Happy just for the sake of it. It’s admirable._

_Molly’s an amazing person to talk to. Alexander is pretty sure he accidentally skipped his shift talking to her though. Oops._

_But at the end of it all, they exchanged numbers. An absolute win! He is now in contact of the only demon with good qualities that he can see and practically feel radiating off of! It’s amazing! She’s amazing._

_“See you, cutie.” Molly waves goodbye before paying for her drink. Alexander waves back and watches as she leaves. She’s a very interesting person._

_“Whoa, Alex, who was that?” Sam asks when he comes over. Alexander smiles and looks over to him, despite Sam looking a little annoyed, Alexander is happy._

_“She’s Molly.” Alexander giggles and Sam raises an eyebrow._

_“And she called you “Cutie”?” Sam asks and leans down to Alexander’s level._

_“Yeah…” Alexander giggles more, feeling his cheeks blush._

_Over the course of a few weeks, both Molly and Alexander had texted and called each other._

_Molly is even more fun as a friend. She’s a great person to hang out with and Alexander admittedly was nervous…_

_Because he likes her. And he doesn’t want to ruin his relationship with her._

_But, he has the guts to give a go._

_One day when Molly comes to the Tavern when it’s closed. Alexander’s Landlord had given him permission to do this when everything’s closed._

_When she arrives, she’s instantly given a bouquet. Pink Roses. Symbolising many things, but most of all, they symbolise love._

_“U-uh… Molly…” Alexander stutters and Molly takes the bouquet and smells the roses. She looks into Alexander’s eyes and bats hers while smiling cheerfully. Alexander swallows the saliva in his mouth and he continues to stutter “Would-would you li-like to… go on a date?”_

_“Yes.” Molly’s voice doesn’t register with Alexander. He pauses hearing her answer. Molly giggles and boops his nose to get him out of his trance. He blushes and covers his face with his hands._

_The next night, the two went out for Dinner. Alexander’s Mates wouldn’t let him be and kept giving him advice that he was too nervous to recall. Dressing in a black three-piece suit was The Landlord’s idea, who know he has good tastes?_

_When Alexander went to pick up Molly, he had prepared another pink rose bouquet, and she looked stunning in her flowing red dress. She was and still is a Goddess._

_The venue was a typical fancy restaurant. They ordered a fancy dinner and had a few glasses of red wine._

_They talk talked the night away, cracking jokes and generally having a great time. Sure, the wine had something to do with it, which may be why Alexander can’t remember most of it._

_But, he does remember waking up with his head buried in a very fluffy pillow… a very fluffy pink and white pillow…_

“I love you…” Alexander whispers once Molly ends their kiss.

“I love you too, but you’re not dressed! Come on! Hurry!” Molly releases Alexander from her hug and she ushers him to his room. His bandmates look in amusement, they know that it’s date night, Alexander has been planning this for weeks.

Alexander hops in his room and cleans up. Ever since he’s been dating Molly, his life has suddenly taken a fun turn. She’s cute, she’s funny, she’s a great person to spend time with, and she’s an amazing lover

Alexander hurries out of his room giving Oli a wave and a snack before closing his door.

He’s wearing a white button up shirt, black trousers and a grey tie, covering most of his body is a black trench coat. It looks nice, formal, but nice. After all, he needs to looks good for his girlfriend.

“You look so cute!” Molly squeals and Alexander smiles.

“I can say the same about you, darling.” He compliments and instantly she kisses his cheek. He holds her hand and pulls her along “Come on! Let’s sneak outta here!”

“Sneak? Are we teenagers?” Molly laughs but goes along with it anyway. Everyone knows what they’re doing, but why not? It’s fun.

Both giggle and shush each other rounding the corner to get to the exit. Alexander pulls Molly’s hand and she pulls back playfully making him trip on his feet. She runs out laughing and Alexander chases after her bursting out as well.

They arrive at a jazz place, music playing, swingers swinging, and a restaurant with the finest cuisine. Alexander can’t remember the name of the place, but it’s tame enough for diners to eat in peace.

Molly is humming along to music the band is playing as they dance across the floor to their table. Alexander spins her when they reach their destination, he pulls out her chair and pushes her in when she’s seated. 

Alexander sits at his end and he looks up seeing Molly smiling at him, he blushes slightly and glances away shyly as her stare intensifies.

“You’re adorable.”

“Molly…” Alexander plays with a strand of his hair and Molly giggles. He looks at her again and smiles “How have you been, darling?

“The usual. Job’s been easy going, customers are a hassle, but nothing a good kick in the balls can’t fix!” Molly laughs and Alexander melts hearing it. It’s like if fairy floss produced a sound equivalent to an angel’s heavenly harp. It’s beautiful. 

Alexander snaps out of it seeing a waiter come by, he flags him down and he looks at the menu “I’ll have a Shrimp Cocktail and Oysters Rockefeller. What do you want, Darling?”

“I’ll have a devilled egg, some cheese, olives, and a Shrimp Cocktail as well.” Molly hands her menu to the waiter alongside Alexander and they’re left alone for their meal. Molly smiles at Alexander and he smiles back, they both hold hands “And how’s your life been, baby?”

“It’s been…” Alexander sighs and holds the bridge of his nose with his elbow on the table, he still had one hand holding Molly’s. He lets his nose go and he clenches his fist annoyed “Interesting to say the least. The Rose of Blasphemy is losing fans, and in no time soon the whole reason our landlord took us in is going to commit suicide. And you know my little side project, the Hotel? The manager’s new partner made me redo the entire garden! Everything! He made me dig up all the plants and dispose of them! Most of them had a fighting chance and they would have regrown if they had enough time, but no! All the plants got replaced, don’t get me wrong, the garden looks pretty, but the-”

Alexander stops dead in his tracks the moment Molly leans over and reaches her finger to boop him on the nose. He stares at her with a blank expression as she sits back down, when she holds his hands again is when his face erupts in red.

“Your angry side was coming out.” Molly tilts her head to the side, she holds in her giggles as Alexander’s face engulfs in red. He looks away slightly but she squeezes his hands to get him to look at her “How’s the garden going?”

“It’s doing great. The bushes help the flowerbeds with irritation, the koi pond has yet to have koi, and it now has a few trees to outline some aspects…” Alexander goes on and he can feel his blush go down “But how are you doing? Are you happy?”

“Of course I am! When am I not?”

“Well…” Alexander hang on his example a little embarrassed, Molly’s smile drops slightly but she makes it reassuring for him. She leans over and kisses his knuckles, and thus the red infection in the cheeks has returned.

After paying for dinner, the two are still chatting away, joking around, flirting just a little, and joking some more. The night was overall fun. Glasses of wine enhanced the experience even more, both Molly and Alexander laugh and flirt more.

“You’re so adorable, babe.” Molly giggles as Alexander curls a strand of his hair, also giggling in his state of mind while holding his wine glass up.

“I love you.” Alexander mumbles before sipping the last of his wine. He places the glass down and he looks into Molly’s beautiful, beautiful eyes. She stares back still smiling, the blush on her face is faint but it doesn’t compare to her eyes. How big and round they are, full of emotion and love. Alexander is almost jealous at how much they hold.

“I love you too.” Molly gets up and Alexander tilts his head confused before she motions for him to get up as well. Alexander follows her lead, confused but willing, he doesn’t bother pushing his chair in as he follows her to the exit. Molly looks back and holds out her hand, he takes it and immediately they do a little sway of dance while heading to the exit. 

Molly swings Alexander in front of her and he in turn spins her around him to avoid tables. The Spider laughs as she’s held by the waist, she holds the Deer’s shoulders as they both spin themselves. Moving in a flowing motion, both continue to sway, spin and swing themselves around for fun. Until they finally reach the exit.

“So, your place, Darling?” Alexander asks while offering his arm to his date, Molly takes it and they begin walking down the street.

“Of course!” Molly giggles and she cheekily leans onto him to give him a smooch to the cheek “And we might play a little bit in the darkness.”

Alexander smiles a little embarrassed but he takes on his blush with a strong pink hue to control himself. “That-that sounds lovely, Darling.”

Sometime later, Molly spies an alleyway and she grabs Alexander’s coat to drag him in.

The minute he is pinned to the wall, he knows to surrender. He and Molly’s sexual relationship can vary from lovingly gentle to rough to… really kinky, and he honestly rolls with it. What’s wrong with a little variety in one’s love life? At least he nor she will get bored, and that’s a plus.

Molly kisses him and his hands travel down her sides once hers release his person. Her hands take separate routes, two taking and pinning his wrists to the wall, one travelling to his neck, the other travelling downward… to his left hip.

They gasp for air once their lips are disconnected. Alexander smiles as he pants lightly, he looks down at Molly, who is also panting a bit. She gently pushes her thumb against his throat and he gasps softly, she leans up to peck his lips and tightens her hold.

Now his blood is pumping, god this is both scary and a turn on. Molly is a goddess in this field. She both scares and excites him.

Alexander can finally breathe in and he laughs quietly. Molly swats his arm playfully and she pulls him down to kiss again. Alexander takes initiative once his wrists are released and he holds onto Molly’s waist tighter so he could move her back, he makes them both spin and he pins her to the wall.

They break from kissing and Molly giggles as he pins two of her arms to her side, Alexander giggles as well and leans down to kiss her cheek. Molly’s free arms caress Alexander’s arms as his kisses move down her cheek, to her jaw, to her neck. Molly continues to giggle as Alexander feather kisses her skin, she uses her free hands to wrap around his neck and hold him closer.

Alexander can feel her pulling him down and he leans down to her wishes. Her lips are to his ear and he shivers hearing her whisper “Let’s hurry to my place.”

Alexander pulls back and he and Molly rush out of the alley to her place.


	5. Chapter 4

It’s nearly midnight, Alexander is walking back to his place. Tonight was… amazing. He can still see love hearts dancing around his vision.

He and Molly… had a very fun night. She’s a goddess dressed in lace, and he’s her bound worshipper. This night was special for them, like every night they spend making love. Molly had turned the tables yet again and made tonight unpredictably sensational.

He loves her so much… she’s perfect. So kind… so bubbly… Alexander often wonders how lucky he is to meet such a girl, much less date her.

Alexander is suddenly pulled into an Alley, snapping him out of his fantasy. He goes to punch whoever it is but his head is slammed by something that creates a loud crash sound.

Being off balance, Alexander could not defend himself from another blow, but to abdomen. He moves back holding his stomach and he manages to dodge another punch to the head.

He leans back when the attacker swipes a rubbish bin lid at him. Is that what he hit him with? Disgusting. Alexander dodges another swipes but his antlers get nicked, making him leans to the side and unable to avoid another blow to the head.

Alexander stumbles on his knees and he looks up at his attacker…

The Demon looks like a good looking humanised imp and is around 6’3”, which confused Alexander to how he could reach his head and antlers. Dark red skin with an ugly mullet that somehow works for him, in an antagonistic way. He has 2 little horns just visible above his hairline. And his outfit… it’s distasteful. He’s wearing a black singlet, and over it is a flannel jacket that is a checkered green over it. His ripped jeans are a plain blue. He has two chained necklaces around his neck and have some fake looking gemstones on them. His voice sounds as bad as a regular chad. “Well, it’s certainly been a while, Alex.”

He had absolutely no idea who this demon is.

He stands back up and stumbles, glaring at this stranger warily. The bashing his head has taken is making him a bit dizzy, but he manages to growl out “Who the fuck are you?”

“Are you kidding me?” The Demon yells, Alexander had certainly pressed some sort of button. Alexander manages to step to the side fast enough to avoid the lid flying at him. He’s kicked in the abdomen and he grunts as he takes a few steps back “After all these fucking years! You forget about me?!”

Alexander dodges another blow. Then another to the chest. And repeat a few times. He doesn’t know how to strike back, whether or not to kick or to punch. Using vines would be overkill because who knows what drugs this guy is on?

Alexander yelps as he nearly trips back on some rubbish. His antlers are grabbed in his distraction and he’s thrown to the wall.

“How the fuck did you forget about me, you mindless fuck!?” The stranger yells in his face and Alexander blanks. “Mindless fuck?” He only knows one person that called him that. He’s honestly not surprised that he’s in hell.

“How did you find me, Richard?” Alexander kicks Richard back and the red demon is flung back to the other side of the alley, hitting the wall with a sickening cracking sound, though, he doesn’t look injured.

Richard… Oh, Richard… He’s both the reason he joined the band and was the bane of his existence…

_Alexander was a shy teen in High School, meaning he was a weird kid, to say the least._

_That was until he met Richard._

_At first, Richard was a fun guy, and he was a great person to hang out with._

_Sure, the whole laughing at his interests was a red flag, but then again, Alexander laughed at his singing too, so he didn’t think about it much._

_And he was part of Richard’s group, and he soon came to realise that Richard was a part of the popular kids._

_Alexander was happy being Richard’s friend, despite his mates scaring him slightly. He’s never really been that athletic, but being near a lot of them all the time is really intimidating and he wondered most of the time why Richard likes keeping him around._

_He asked him one time. Richard only smiled and laughed, telling him “Mate, you’re cool, why wouldn’t I want to hang with you?”_

_That made Alexander happy, so he let it go._

_There came a time that the two starting practicing some songs, singing together and overall just having fun with metal genres._

_They were good, finding inspiration among many vocalists and bands and sticking to vocals._

_Richard has asked Alexander to keep their practicing secret, and he agreed. It was their secret. Just something between them._

_After a while, in Alexander’s quick flash of mind, he can remember the moment he and Richard’s relationship fell apart._

_He remembers on a Tuesday or Wednesday, when Alexander had come back from the nurse. His stomach ache had subsided only a little bit, which is better than nothing, but it still sucks._

_He heard something slam on metal, so he turns the corner and finds Richard pinning some kids to the fire hose box._

_“If I see you here again-” Richard is threatening them, holding him by their collars and pinning them to the box._

_“Richard, what the fuck are you doing?!” Alexander rushes in and pulls him back, he gets between the boys and his friend while Richard glares down at him. Alexander looks over his shoulder to the boys “You run along, shoo, shoo.”_

_“What are you doing here, Alex?” Richard asks while grabbing his collar and pinning him to the box when the boys run off._

_“What were you doing?” Alexander counters while holding the hands on him so they don’t choke him._

_“It ain’t any of your business.” Richard lifts him up and Alexander’s tippy toes only just reach the floor._

_“It is my business if my best friend is a fucking bully!” Alexander hits Richard’s joint on his arm to get him to put him down, but his little victory is cut short when he bashes him on the box to get him to stop. “What is with you?!”_

_“I’ve always been like this, idiot!” Richard slams him on the box again and Alexander winces feeling his head bang against the metal “You’re just a naïve mindless fuck!”_

_Alexander feels a hand on his throat and his eyes widen fearing for his life. Richard’s not going to choke him right?_

_He feels a pressure on his throat._

_He’s choking him!_

_Alexander sputters and he claws at Richard’s hands and tries to kick at him. It wasn’t really working and his lungs were beginning to burn._

_At times like these he wished he could vomit on cue, or at least be able to spit with tremendous aim, which ever one would certainly distract Richard long enough for Alexander to run._

_“Oi! Put him down!”_

Alexander snaps back into reality in time to dodge another punch.

He’s… pissed off.

After all the shit this dick has caused him, he’s managed to follow him all the way down to Hell. Fucking creep. What he saw in him, he’ll never know… and how he looked passed the narcissistic personality of this attention hungry cunt is beyond him.

Alexander growls and manages to swing a hit to the Red Demon’s head. He lands a blow and moves back. Richard roars and lunges forward to attack, but Alexander moves to the side, entirely focused.

“Stay still, you little cunt!” Richard tries to punch Alexander multiple times. Stomach. Chest. Stomach. Head. Head. He misses on all. He lands a blow to Alexander’s stomach, but he gets kneed in the gut.

Richard staggers, he moves back. Alexander stands over him, frowning and eyebrows furrowed.

“Do you really think I’m still that little chinless wonder you towed around to boost your ego?” Alexander asks and leans down when Richard falls back. He can feel himself get taller. A rush of energy filling his body like water poured into a glass. His vision is reddening. His frown is slowly transforming into a crooked open toothed smile.

Richard punches him in the nose and Alexander yelps. He’s pushed back on the wall, all the energy he felt disappearing into dust. Richard grabs his antlers and slams his head repeated on the wall. Each slam sends stars on the edge of Alexander’s vision.

Alexander manages to bite the offending arm, tasting blood on his tongue as Richard pulls his limb back. Alexander kicks him away and spits out the disgusting tasting liquid from his mouth.

Richard glares and he steps back when Alexander lunges forward with a punch. Alexander actually lands his hits. Head. Head. Stomach. Chest. Stomach. Head. Chest. Richard twists in his fall, landing on his knees. Alexander kicks him and Richard flies to the ground.

Alexander pants and straightens himself up, pulling back his hair and fixing up his coat. He’ll definitely need to super wash this outfit.

He grabs Richard’s collar and pulls him up, pinning him to the wall by his neck and making Richard look him in the eye. Alexander squeezes and Richard wheezes in response, using on hand to claw at Alexander’s arms.

“Now that you’re still…” Alexander sighs and leans in, putting pressure on Richard’s neck, Richard chokes. “What the fuck was that?”

“Bastard…” Richard spits at him and Alexander ignores the saliva on his collar for the moment. Poor aim, he notes. Alexander squeezes but releases to let Richard talk. Then he laughs.

Richard fucking laughs.

Alexander is taken aback by this. Then he feels it.

A pin prick… then a sudden burning chunk of pain in his abdomen.

Alexander’s eyes widen and he forgets to breathe momentarily despite his mouth being open in shock. He looks down when he feels something wet on his abdomen, he sees a knife protruding out of his flesh, its hilt touching the skin. Alexander looks to Richard and he’s smirking.

“What’s wrong?” Richard asks with total control of his vocal cords now that he could breathe, Alexander’s hands had loosened. Richard pushes Alexander back and the buck stumbles, feeling more pain as the knife exits the wound.

Alexander falls on his rear and he gasps in holding his stab.

“Just die there, at least you’ll provide a good meal for the cannibals.” Richard hides his knife and he laughs again. Alexander’s breathing shallows watching Richard walk off into the night’s crowd.

It’s sunrise, or at least Hell’s equivalent to sunrise. It’s around 6am.

Jackson looks to the door as he prepared pre-drinks before opening the tavern. Sam and Brandon are fixing up the tables and chairs while Hector is wiping down the tables already set.

Alexander hadn’t returned yet.

“Do you think something’s up?” Jackson asks out to the group, eyeing his Landlord who’s walking passed to get some vodka.

“He’s probably sleeping in.” Brandon pipes up and flips a chair over and he stretches his arms up, leaning back. “He has more game than all of us combined. Let him have fun.”

“It’s nearly opening time, Brandon, Alexander needs to clock in.” Their Landlord states simply and swigs some vodka. He lets out a breath and shakes his head. His morning ritual to deal with customers for the day.

There’s a jingling at the door. All look over seeing Alexander’s shadow through some glass, evident in his antlers.

Hector heads over the minute Alexander opens the door, then he runs to him.

There’s the scent of blood. Everyone inside can smell it.

“Shit!” Hector holds Alexander up when he stumbles forward. Alexander’s coat has a stain soaked in blood, not dry in the least. Alexander’s breathing is still shallow, and he somehow looks paler, in a sickly way.

“Hey… I’m back…” Alexander laughs quietly with a tired smile. Hector pulls him up and he winces.

“What the fuck did you do?!” Jackson yells and he jumps over the bar to rush over. He looks Alexander over and finds where the blood is coming from. Naturally, he assumed it’s either a bullet or a knife. Jackson pulls Alexander by the arm and hurries him to the Employee’s Only door “Come on! You’re too injured to stand like that! How did you walk back? You look like you’ve lost a truck load!”

Alexander had gotten treated by the Landlord, who knew he knew first aid? He’s currently in his room on his bed, Oli is hooting quietly and pacing on his antlers. He’s currently shirtless to allow his Boss to wrap bandaging around his abdomen.

His mates are surrounding him worried, but they seem serious.

“Now that you’ve been treated…” His Boss packs up his tools and looks Alexander in the eye “What the fuck happened?”

“Oh, you know lads…” Alexander tugs his hair and avoids eye contact “… just a friendly run in with an old friend…”

“Let me guess…” Hector leans in and Alexander looks at him “Creepy stalker bloke?”

“Well… I think he stalked me?” Alexander shrugs nervously in his confirmation. “I mean, I guess? I got shanked in an alley… so maybe?”

“So it was _him_?” Hector asks with all seriousness. Alexander looks away and tugs his hair forward to hide some of his face.

The room goes silent.

They know.


	6. Chapter 5

Charlie looks to the door. Alexander hadn’t come to the Hotel in a few days, which is weird. He loves his garden.

In the few days, Alastor used his weird voodoo magic to keep the garden healthy, but Charlie can tell it’s annoying him.

What if something happened to him?

No, no, he’s probably grounded again. Alexander did say that his Boss grounds him with more chores sometimes. Usually for two days… it’s been nearly a week though.

“Hey, Hun, what’s up?” Charlie smiles hearing Vaggie’s careful tone, the Moth isn’t smiling but she curls her lips up seeing Charlie’s face.

“Do you think Alexander is okay?”

“I mean, probably?” Vaggie shrugs. She admits she’s a little concerned about him, seeing as she knows how much he loves his project. Those plants aren’t going to care for themselves and she’s pretty sure some are going to die without his expertise. She’s worried about him of course, but it might be nothing, so she’s not  that worried. “Worst case scenario is that he’s dead, but he doesn’t have grudges with anyone in Hell.”

At least, public ones.

“But still!” Charlie holds her head up on the table. It’s not like Alexander not to call either, she and Vaggie know this as well.

She looks up at Vaggie and the Moth Demon can only smile, guessing what she’s thinking. 

Charlie gets up with a determined smile and Vaggie watches as she grabs a book and looks through it, it’s a map book. Vaggie’s not sure how Chalrie still has one when everyone uses their phones nowadays.

But, they both make a silent agreement. They’re going to visit The Note String's Club.

“Hey, we’re going to visit Alexander! Don’t do anything while we’re out!” Vaggie calls out while Charlie puts on his red jacket. Niffty gives a cute salute, Husk doesn’t give a crap, Alastor simply nods from his book. Then Angel jumps down from the stairs in a loud slam.

“Can I come!?” He asks loudly.

“No.”

“Bitch…” Angel mumbles but Vaggie hears it and throws a dagger at him, he yelps when it makes a plunk in the stair railing. 

“Vaggie come on! I got directions!” Charlie announces holding a piece of paper, Vaggie smiles as they leave.

The journey to the Club was… interesting to say the least. It’s in the bad side of the City. And by bad, they mean BAD. A higher number of druggies, prostitutes, the works. Hard to imagine Alexander working here.

But, they understood why when they see the Club’s sign. It’s entirely opposite of the surroundings. It appears classy, to say the least.

Both enter and they find a lot of patrons, Charlie’s almost jealous.

Both of them walk around a bit before they decide to sit at the bar. An Orange Spider Demon is serving drinks.

He notices them and he comes over “G’day, what do you two ladies want tonight?”

His accent sounds a little different. It’s like Alexander’s but more laidback. She remembers Alexander saying he’s British and his “mates” are Australian. Is the difference the accent?

“Are you Alexander’s work friend?” Charlies asks and the Spider’s eyes widen slightly and he points at her.

“Charlie?” He guesses and Charlie nods. The Spider finger guns them “And you’re Vaggie?”

“Yeah.” Vaggie is unsure what to think of the Spider. He seems friendly.

“Cool, name’s Jackson.” Jackson leaps over the counter when there’s a loud tick sound. “Your lucky day, my shift is over! I’ll take you to him.”

“Thanks.” Charlie pulls Vaggie along to follow Jackson to the Employee’s Only Door, this concerns Charlie a little bit. Is Alexander not working? “Is Alexander okay?”

“Well, he should be, it’s been a few days.” Jackson answers a little ominously. Both Vaggie and Charlie look at each other in confusion as they walk up to the door. Jackson knocks and opens the door “Hey, mate, wake up, you have guests.”

Jackson opens the door and Charlie goes through and she stays silent seeing Alexander on his bed. The room is pretty warm, so he’s not under a blanket, but it means she can see the bandaging around his abdomen.

“What happened?” Charlie asks and Jackson is rubbing the back of his neck.

“We dunno. He didn’t exactly tell us what happened, just who did it.” Jackson explains and he looks off somewhere across the room and motions something away. Vaggie raises an eyebrow at this before spying a weird looking perch and a black feather next to it. Does Alexander have a pet? “He’s not really talkative with his problems. One time he cut himself real bad on a vine, and we didn’t find out until he passed out from blood loss.”

“That bad, huh…?” Charlie asks awkwardly while looking to the sleeping Demon.

_Richard and Alexander’s relationship became questionable about a year after their mateship began. Alexander had begun noticing some… things about Richard._

_Richard talks like he’s superior and his attitude was strange._

_Richard often laughs at Alexander whenever he makes mistakes, and of course Alexander had brushed it off. After all, that’s Richard. He’s like that with everybody._

_But in the last year of high school, at age eighteen, Alexander noticed that Richard’s attitude… amplified._

_He’s louder, more aggressive, and his “jokes” are becoming a little more hurtful._

_It began when they both heard about a competition, an audition. This isn’t just any audition, this is a one in a life time chance for a talented newbie to join an up and rising Melodic Death Metal Band. An Australian band set up in one of the most popular music destinations in the world! Sydney!_

_Sure, their chances of getting in were slim to none, and Alexander understands that, he’s just excited. But Richard… he’s taking this more seriously than he originally thought…_

_It started with taking their good microphone to practice at his place. Sure, no biggie, but then something else happened._

_Richard had made Alexander practice less so he could practice more for the auditions. Making him do meaningless chores, like get more CDs and a specific microphone set._

_Alexander didn’t question much of it since he thought Richard was a little anxious and panicked. He is too. Richard just had an entirely different way of coping. It’s not helping Alexander either, but each time he goes out, he takes the time to listen and sing along to some songs. It’s good practice, but he prefers being on their makeshift stage._

_But then the stomach Flu hit him. It sucked._

_So many aches and pains, fevers and vomiting. Alexander remembers the spell hitting him in the middle of class and he rushed out of the classroom to vomit into a rubbish bin. He was immediately sent to the Nurse._

_It was strange, mainly because it wasn’t flu season, but anyone can get sick. Although, the Nurse did mention how strange it was how fast he got the symptoms, Alexander thought she was insinuating that she thought he was faking._

_But over the course of a week, the symptoms got worse, to the point Alexander had to stay at home instead of at school. Due to all the vomiting, his voice had taken a huge blow and he couldn’t practice much, but he still tries._

_Richard had visited him each day, and Alexander has notices how much nicer he acted. He was worried? That was a relief, at least his friend was by his side during this time._

_When he was well enough to go back to school, he was careful not to eat anything to upset his stomach, but it still didn’t really work since he still vomited up his water._

_But, he survived._

_Where was he? … Oh right, Richard snapped and Jackson saved him._

_“Oi! Put him down!” Someone punches Richard in the jaw and Alexander is dropped. Alexander holds his neck while hearing the scuffle going on in front of him, he breathes in deep and slow to calm down his heart and he looks up with a jolt when Richard’s body is slammed on the other side of the hallway. Richard runs away and Alexander flinches when he’s presented with a hand “Come on, get up, the bastard’s gone.”_

_“Thank you…” Alexander rubs his neck to ease the pain and the stranger straightens him up and pats his shirt down to get the dust off._

_“Honestly, what the fuck was that little cunt doing?” The Man asks himself and Alexander stays quiet as he looks to where Richard ran off to. But now that he’s really hearing this blokes voice, he’s starting to think that those rumours he hears about Australian are true. He just punched someone that was about to kill someone else. They’re fearless. The man hits his shoulder softly “Hey, you all good?”_

_“Yeah.” Alexander pulls a tuff of his hair awkwardly. What should he do?_

_“Come on.” The Man takes his arm and he pulls him along, Alexander stays quiet, unsure of what to do. Who is this guy? What’s he going to do? Why did he help him? Why’s he in school? The man takes him through the school gates and Alexander didn’t worry since it’s passed school hours, but he did worry when he’s leading him to a car. The Man lets go off him to get his keys “Get in, I’m taking you to get ice cream. Or Crumpets. Fuck it, fish and chips, you Poms like that stuff, right?”_

_“Yeah?” Alexander answers awkwardly but stands there when the car unlocks “Who are you?”_

_“Oh, right.” The Man bonks his own head then offers a hand in greeting, Alexander hesitantly takes the hand “The name’s Jackson, but you can call me Jack, Jacky, Jay, whatever, I don’t mind. What’s your name?”_

_“Alexander.” Alexander answers shyly and looks to the door Jackson opens for him. He rubs his arm but gets in. The door is closed and he puts on his seatbelt, Jackson gets in the driver’s seat. When the engine revs, Alexander begins to get second thoughts._

_Both Jackson and Alexander are sitting outside a café and munching on some chips. These are some good chips, too bad he can only eat a few of them._

_“So…” Jackson begins and Alexander plops a chip in his mouth, head up and listening. “What happened back there?”_

_“My mate just… umm…” Alexander licks his fingers to distract himself. What did happen? Richard just flipped. Was he always like that? “He’s not usually like that…”_

_“Okay, mate, let me make this easy.” Jackson chews some chips and swallows “Do you hang out with him?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_“Mate, why do you even hang out with that bastard?” Jackson asks and takes a piece of fish and offers it to Alexander, he receives a shake of the head so he plops it in his mouth._

_It should have been easy to answer. Richard was basically his only friend. He introduced him to his group. He took care of him when he was too sick to go to school. He’s violent… he demeaned him… let his mates make fun of him… yeah… but he’s there for him… “He’s my friend.”_

_Jackson looks at him with a raised eyebrow, Alexander looks away briefly before looking at him and hiding his eye behind some hair “Friends don’t yell at call you a mindless fuck.”_

_“Well… he’s just stressed?” Alexander excuses weakly but he continues to play with his hair nervous when Jackson’s eyes furrow._

_“Why does that sound like a question?”_

_“Umm…” Alexander resorts to tapping the table to calm his nerves._

_“I’ll drive you back home, okay? It’s nearly dark out.” Jackson eats the rest of the chips and stands up. Alexander stands as well._

_On the drive back, Alexander was nervously curling his hair. He jumps slightly when Jackson sighs out loud when traffic shows up somehow._

_“Does he do that often?” Jackson asks and Alexander tilts his head at the question. Jackson rolls his eyes and puts on a sympathetic smile at the teen’s obliviousness “Choke you, I mean.”_

_“No… that’s the first time he’s ever done that…” Alexander puts a hand to his throat, remembering the fear he felt when his closest mate nearly killed him. He just snapped…_

_“And does he usually call you names?” Jackson asks and he briefly leans out the window to flip off some arse that beeped at him._

_“Name calling is a mate thing. He calls me a dumb idiot and I sometimes call him names too…” Alexander confesses and begins hiding his eyes behind his hair “… He doesn’t like it when I call him names…”_

_“Does he talk shit about you?” Jackson asks while winding up the window.”_

_“Well… umm…” Alexander can’t answer that._

_“Does he give you the same amount you give him?” Jackson presses on “Do you actually trust him? Do you get used? Hell, I know you make excuses for him.”_

_“Why are you asking me this…” Alexander mumbles. Those questions don’t have good answers… and yeah… he does make excuses for him, but that’s what mates do for each other. Right?_

_“Do Poms not teach kids what a toxic friend is?” Jackson asks and he pulls over to let an ambulance rush by. These streets can be hectic, Alexander’s not gonna lie. But toxic friend? Sure, he’s learnt about him in Primary school, but Richard’s not toxic. At least… he thinks he isn’t._

_Alexander’s silence must have been an answer, because Jackson just drove on once it’s clear._

_Jackson pulls up at Alexander’s place and he opens the teen’s door for him, Alexander steps out and rubs his arms._

_Jackson may be friendly, but he’s intense._

_“Okay, mate, you’re a strange one, I can tell.” Jackson gives him a light slap on the back. Alexander laughs nervously then he notices Jackson’s jacket emblem. Rose of Blasphemy._

_“What’s the Rose of Blasphemy?” Alex asks and Jackson looks to his emblem. He smiles._

_“It’s my band.” Jackson answers cheerfully. He sure is happy. It must be great if he looks so proud. “It’s why I came to the UK. Looking for a vocalist and you Poms have good voices.”_

_“Wait…” Alexander back tracks “You’re hosting the competition?”_

_“Oh, you’ve heard of it?” Jackson laughs and pulls out something from his pocket. Alexander nods excitedly and Jackson pats his back again laughing louder “Wow! You did a full One-Eighty! I take it that you want to enter?”_

_“Well- Yeah!” Alexander hops once in place in enthusiasm. Just his luck!_

_“Cool!” Jackson hands him the thing from his pocket. Alexander gently grabs it and sees it’s an emblem similar to Jackson’s. “Look forward to doing business with you, Alex. I gotta sort things out, but I’ll be rooting for you.”_

_“Yeah, thanks, Jack.” Alexander waves him off when he drives off._

_After a few weeks, Alexander had been avoiding Richard. Jackson had gotten to him, no sane person would stay next to someone that nearly killed them._

_Speaking of Jackson, the two have been hanging out recently. Jackson’s a pretty cool drummer and he lets Alexander drum sometimes, it sucked, but it was fun._

_And, in that time, Alexander had begun feeling awesome. Like he can jump over the moon. And he’s noticed something._

_Alexander realises that the less he hangs out with Richard, the more the stomach flu goes away. Maybe it was stressed induced? He’d hate to think of something else… like Richard was somehow poisoning him._

_Preposterous. Richard wouldn’t poison him. It would be too obvious, and by now, Alexander would have been dead._

_Aside from his denial about Richard poisoning him, Alexander eventually began to practice again, but in his home. It’s not great with the lack of equipment._

_Now that he thinks about it… Richard and his secret hide out… he paid for all that, didn’t he? The microphones, the speakers, the CDs. Most of it anyway._

_Alexander packs up some microphones into his bag. It’s around Quarter Passed Seven, and he’s thought of something stupid. He snuck into the hidden place… with the intent of stealing his property. Stupid._

_Alexander stands back up and looks around for his CDs when the door opens. He stays silent when the lights turn on._

_Richard had entered the building._

_“Why are you here?” He asks angrily and Alexander manages hold his ground by crossing his arms._

_“I’m taking my stuff back.” Alexander answers simply and picks up his CD rack and plops it in his bag. He can see the spinning ball of death in Richard’s eyes as he tries to register what Alexander just said. Alexander finds a mini speaker and throws it in as well as he speaks again “I’m going to audition.”_

_“No you’re not.” Richard growls._

_“I am.” Alexander packs up the things he paid for and goes to leave. Richard blocks his exit and Alexander stops “Move.”_

_“You’re not Auditioning.” Despite how intimidating Richard sounds, Alexander doesn’t back down._

_“And what are you going to do to stop me?” Alexander tries to get through but Richard pushes him back. Alexander drops his bag and he holds his ground “I don’t need your permission.”_

_“If you audition, you’ll have nothing else to do with me.” Richard stomps a foot closer and Alexander holds back the instinct to flinch “I will make your life hell!”_

_“I’d rather go to hell than be with an arrogant cunt like you.”_

_And with those words, Richard flicks the switch from Twenty to One-hundred, just like that._

_“And what are you going to do without me?! Huh?! I’ll take away everything!” Richard yells at Alexander and grabs his collar to pull him close. Alexander tries to move away but he’s staring into the eyes of a madman “You were practically nothing before I came along!”_

_“I wasn’t and you know it!” Alexander manages to punch Richard in the nose to get him to let go. Alexander manages to grab his bag and run outside._

_Alexander had run onto the street. He can practically feel his heart nearly burst, it’s practically the only thing he can hear._

_After that altercation, Alexander remembers going to the auditions, doing his part then getting out of there. It was on a Friday, so Alexander spent the weekend just… doing nothing. Waiting would be a better word._

_On Monday Alexander had gone to school, he was still out of it. On his walk there, thoughts about his stupidity is filling his head. Of course Richard would get to him without being around him in real life._

_What would he do without Richard? He’s the reason he found out about the auditions. And he won’t win, that’s a given, but if Richard doesn’t win… Alexander couldn’t imagine what he would do to him. Public humiliation? Assault? Maybe he’d make him disappear?_

_Where’d that thought come from?_

_“Hey, Alex, I was hoping to spot you here!” Alexander looks up and sees Jackson by the School’s Gate. Jackson puts an arm over Alexander’s shoulders and pulls him aside “Come on, it’s the end of term, you don’t need to go to school.”_

_“Well, yeah, tests and assignments are done…” Alexanders asks and he looks back at the school, hoping that Richard wasn’t seeing this. “Why are you here?”_

_“I’m taking you out on the town! A day of relaxation and peace!” Jackson puts a skip to his step and Alexander follows the new pace. This does confuse him though, why is he taking him out? Is it out of pity? Probably is. Jackson guides Alexander through the street and the younger finally realises where he’s taking him, it’s a café “Now! To celebrate!”_

_“Celebrate?” Alexander is out of Jackson’s hold and he’s watching the man walk through the door, he hesitantly follows. Alexander opens the door and he’s immediately bombarded by loud popping sounds and confetti string flying in his face. Jackson is holding the little confetti bomb in his hand next to him and there are other people in the café give cheer. Alexander is just confused. “What is this?”_

_“Mate, you won!” Jackson laughs at his face of bewilderment._

_He… won?_

_“Won what?”_

_“The auditions, you dolt!” Jackson slaps him on the back while laughing._

_“I won the audition?” Alexander asks, still not taking in what’s happening._

_“Yeah?” Jackson looks down at him confused “What’s so confusing about that?”_

_“I really won?” Jackson nods still confused before Alexander glomps him in a hug, giving out an excited yell “YES! Thank you!”_

_“Ha! You’re reall- Oh fuck! Fuck!” Jackson topples backwards with Alexander in tow._

_Then came the flight to Australia. Alexander doesn’t remember most of it, other than passing out and waking up when landing._

_But actually arriving to Australia. That charged him right up!_

_Jackson had guided Alexander through everything. Citizenship, paperwork, money, and since Alexander is eighteen he’s allowed to get a work visa, too. Over the course of the next few months, Alexander would be entirely legal. And, the equipment Alexander checked in back in London would arrive in a few weeks, or so the person behind the desk told them. And Jackson also bought him and paid for a go-card._

_And when they stepped out, honestly it wasn’t that impressive, but the tram ride around the city was amazing! Sydney is such a vibrant city! So colourful and cultural as well!_

_Although, Jackson’s not sharing his enthusiasm. Maybe being a local makes you immune?_

_But’s it’s amazing, the statues, the street art, the street performers! Is it like this all year round? Always this lively?_

_The tram stops and Alexander looks around seeing people get off and Jackson pulls him off. Everyone’s bustling to get on the trams but Jackson’s pulling him elsewhere._

_“Press the card on the screen and let’s go.” Alexander pulls out his go-card quickly and lets the screen scan it, when he hears a ding Jackson pulls him along “Okay! Be prepared, Sydney’s not like London or whatever. It’s fast and not all of us are kind.”_

_“What do you mean?” Alexander matches Jackson’s pace._

_He now knows what he means. Alexander kept close to Jackson when they travel through the street, surrounded by huge buildings and people. People weren’t kind in that area, or at least the ones that bumped into him and yelled at him. People aren’t kind._

_But, now they were in a more suburban area. Large buildings and apartments turn into houses. And soon there are decent sized lawns._

_“Okay, this is our house.” Jackson announces and Alexander looks up seeing the building, it’s a white small two storey house. The staircase looks old but sturdy, leading to a grey door. Plants are hanging mostly everywhere and some are planted on the ground next to the fenced wall. The lower storey has stuff in it from what he could see through the fenced wall, maybe tables? Overall, from the outside, it looks normal._

_Alexander walks up the stairs and Jackson unlocks the door._

_“Welcome to your new place, Alex.” They enter and the living room, blue couches and lounge chairs, a medium sized TV and some paintings on the wall. On the couches are three strangers with weird haircuts. Should he comment on their haircuts? Not really, no. “These are our roommates!”_

_“Hi…” Alexander waves awkwardly. There’s a silence after his attempt at a greeting._

_It’s been an hour of Jackson and Alexander unpacking his luggage into his room. It was sloppy, but Alexander could do it all later, since Jackson pulled him out quickly_

_“Alright! I hereby introduce the newest member of our band! Our new Lead Vocalist from Britain! Alexander!” Jackson claps and gives the Brit jazz hands. The three men look at him confused and Alexander covers his face with his hair in embarrassment. Jackson’s like a big brother. Embarrassing. Jackson lowers his hands and states sarcastically “Don’t celebrate too hard.”_

_“Sorry, just tired, mate.” One bloke stands up and comes closer, the one with the Metallica cut. He shakes Alexander’s hand and greets friendly “G’day, name’s Sam. Sorry to not show enthusiasm, Sydney ain’t exactly the best place to sleep for depressing people like us.”_

_Before Alexander could comment on that, Sam motions to the man with short hair, currently blowing a bubble with gum._

_“That’s Brandon, the Ass.”_

_“Oi.” Brandon growls at him and Alexander flinches. This bloke’s intimidating._

_“And that’s Hector.” Sam points to the final bloke with the whole kid scene hair like Jackson. He looks young._

_“Hey.” Hector greets quietly._

_“Hi.” Alexander waves awkwardly._

_The first meeting was awkward, but they managed to get passed that._

_Soon, they practiced. They practiced songs mostly from the band The Hunt for Ida Wave, Alexander’s voice fit most of the songs almost perfectly. That got him some kudos with his new band members._

_And, soon, they got a spot in Field Day. The festival is at The Domain. So, many, many people._

_It made Alexander nervous, since they’re diving right into it. It certainly was daring… but his mates’ go to attitudes were rubbing off on him._

_Honestly, to his embarrassment, it turned into a blur. A good kind of blur, he had fun performing a few songs. He never thought being on stage would have been this… magnificent!_

_Soon, they performed at a smaller venue. Then another festival. Before he knew it, Alexander had counted four festivals in the music season of Sydney._

_Life was bliss._

_About… six months after Alexander arrived at Australia, he had gotten along well with the others. He and Hector likes spending time in silence. He’s learnt the Sam likes tuning his guitar with a voice, and that had led to many incidents resulting in extra guitar strings and many throat soothing concoctions disguised as remedies. Brandon was still scary, but he’s getting Alexander to open up… in an aggressive way… but he’s thankful for that._

_His mates also let him build a garden since all he did was stay at home and tidy up due to not legally being allowed to earn money yet. He grew vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs, basically a very practical garden surrounded by bushes, succulents and flowers._

_But, he’s now eligible to get a job now that he has a work visa. His citizenship will come in the next year and then he’ll officially be Australian._

_The others had jobs, so he took it upon himself to put himself out there._

_It may had been a mistake to do so…_

_Instead of getting letters back for offers or responses…_

_He got death threats._

_Alexander doesn’t remember what the letters said, what words that hurt him so much… but he does remember how scared he felt. The fear of nearly being killed rushed back into his mind, the adrenaline being useless in pumping his blood to the point his heart nearly gave out._

_But, they were letters. And if he’s learnt anything from Brandon, “If the bugger is too much of a wuss to confront you in person, he ain’t worth your time.” No truer words could be said in this situation._

_Until he received a second death threat._

_It continued, and Alexander was scared of the others finding out. He didn’t want them to get hurt either… and he didn’t want them to see how pathetic he was in this situation._

_Practicing was harder, too, it seemed. Alexander was unfocused, he stuttered in song, and he stuttered when he talked. If the others noticed, they let it slide. Alexander never knew why they let it slide…_

_He started isolating himself in his room and practicing in there whenever he needed to, after all, he didn’t want to disappoint his mates even further._

_He was starting to get sick from it. Nightmares were appearing after each letter he opened. Some nights he didn’t sleep. Some days, he completely shut down._

_One of those days, he shut down in front of Jackson. Pass out, falling to the floor in front of him. He woke up in bed and tucked in, a soaked cloth on his forehead. Perhaps he had developed a fever from all the stress…_

_It was Brandon that got him to fess up._

_He came in to check up on him and he spotted them. The letters._

_Alexander couldn’t stop him since he was in bed, and this was Brandon. He may not look like it, but he’s protective._

_Brandon read through the first few letters he got his hands on. Alexander let him do what he wanted, expecting him to yell or even punch him for being an idiot. But, Brandon was silent._

_Alexander watches as Brandon sits on the edge on his bed, holding up the letters he read. Alexander played with his hair anxiously as Brandon had remained silent._

_“This is why you’ve lost so much progress?” his words weren’t harsh, or threatening. It was a concerned voice asking a serious question. Unlike Brandon’s usual go to, which stuns Alexander into a little bit of silence. But then Brandon’s annoyed tone returned in all its glory “Who is it?”_

_“Dunno…” Alexander mumbles and tugs his hair harder._

_“Bullshit.” Brandon throws the letters at him and Alexander holds his arms up to protect his face. Brandon gets up and throws a jacket at Alexander, which confuses him greatly. “Get outta bed, we’re smoking out this motherfucker.”_

_“No!” Alexander jumps out of bed and goes to rush at Brandon but the older male is suddenly in front of him. Alexander keeps quiet and holds his arms as Brandon stands over him._

_“Fine. I won’t smoke him out. You will.” Brandon holds up an envelope, Alexander can see the returning address. “Find this cunt, and make him stop, or, I will tell the others, and we will jump him.”_

_Alexander hesitantly takes the envelope and nods weakly. Brandon gives his shoulder a light punch._

_As much as he didn’t want to do this, not knowing the person that’s wishing death on him, he could get hurt. This guy had the perfect opportunity to off him at that very moment._

_Alexander is in front of a coffee shop. There are a lot of customers and staff inside. It could be anyone…_

_He lets out a shaky sigh and enters the establishment. Walking up to the counter, he waited for someone to serve him._

_The barista greeted him cheerfully but frowns seeing Alexander’s nervous appearance. Alexander asked to see the manager and the barista nods, pointing him to the side and saying the manager will come out shortly._

_So far so good… Alexander waited off to the side. A few minutes have passed and he’s curling his hair in his fingers._

_Then the manager arrived. She was friendly enough, but he thought there was an underlying… aggressive tone in her voice. She hid it well._

_He pulls out the envelope and a letter, he brought more with him, but those were enough for now. He explained through stutter that someone here was mailing him death threats, and the manager’s demeanour seemed to change when he reluctantly showed her the letter._

_She said she’ll deal with it and she got Alexander to go on his merry way._

_On the way back home, his feelings didn’t really change. He’s still scared. And what would a Coffee Shop Manager do to stop this? Should he had pressed her more about it? Probably…_

_Alexander looks down an alley and he gets jumped by someone, on instinct he punches whomever touched him. The person stumbles and Alexander blanks out seeing a familiar face._

_Richard._

_This absolute creep followed him to Australia._

_Richard spewed out some shit about Alexander getting him fired and how’s he’s going to pay, Alexander couldn’t care less and what happened next was pretty much a blur._

_Next thing he knew, he had a busted lip and some bruising on his ribs. Richard was worse, black eye, lots more bruises that are visible, and he’s on the ground groaning, so it mustn’t be good._

_After that, Alexander’s life mellowed out. Sure, Jackson never let him outside without supervision, but it’s better. Brandon never told them what happened, or so he still thinks._

_Their Music careers soar in the next festival, and for the few years after before they die. During that time period, everything was fun._

Alexander cringes slightly due to the light in his eyes and hearing voices somewhere in his room.

“So, you see, you two, Alex had some grudges from the living, it’s just that he only has one in Hell.” Jackson is heard and explaining and Alexander pushes himself up to look over. Charlie and Vaggie are sitting on the edge of his bed while Jackson is standing by the door. Jackson looks to him and smiles, giving him a mock salute “Hey, Alex, up already?”

“Alexander!” Charlie gasps and she jumps over; Alexander moves back when she crashes on her stomach. She sits up in totally recovery and hugs him “Are you okay?!”

“I’m okay, love.” Alexander returns the hug and gives Vaggie a smile as well, she smiles back a little uncertainly. Alexander pats Charlie’s back while glancing to Jackson who is still smiling cheekily “What were you three talking about.”

“An old peer of yours.” Jackson’s answer had an underlying seriousness to it, but it’s light enough so the girls wouldn’t take note of it. So he was talking about Richard? That sucks… He didn’t tell them he got shanked, right?

“What happened?” Vaggie’s question makes Alexander realise that he didn’t. The Buck looks over to the Moth and he still holds his smile, but Vaggie gives him a stern eye “Did you get shot?”

“No, no, none of the sort.” Alexander assures and Charlie gets off him to sit next to Vaggie. Poor girl looks like she’s holding back so many tears “I just got jumped and shanked.”

“Don’t say that so casually!” Charlie scolds him and Alexander laughs at how dramatic she is. “I’m serious!”

“I know, Love, it’s just that…” Alexander holds onto his sentence, thinking of how to lighten what he’s thinking “It’s better to laugh at past misfortunes than live with them, you know?”

Jackson gives him a thumbs up despite looking on edge. Did he say something wrong?

“Could you… tell us what happened?” Charlie asks hesitantly and Alexander is wary. 

Should he? It might be better if she knows, that way in the future the hotel would be wary with taking in guests.

“Well… I was walking back home…” Alexander begins awkwardly and he rubs the back of his neck. “And someone that… I’m not too friendly with, from my past, shanked me in an alleyway.”

“And what happened to him?” Vaggie presses, but her tone is soft, she’s sympathetic. That’s an odd change, Alexander notes.

“It was a coward attack, so he just ran into the crowd.” Alexander shrugs and he has a glimpse of Jackson’s reaction, there’s hidden anger in his eyes “If he’s anything like back in the Living, he’s a coward. A revengeful coward. He probably thinks I’m dead, but jokes on hi-”

Alexander’s attempt at being funny earns him another hug from Charlie. He’ll stay quiet for now.

Both Charlie and Vaggie left around dinner time, and Alexander is lying awake on his bed. He has no idea what time it is, but he’s both tired and not wanting to sleep at the same time. It’s confusing.

All he can think about now is what Richard would do next. Sure, Richard’s basically an aggressive, narcissistic coward. And most likely that was his attempt to off him.

But he has no idea what Richard is like now. He has no idea if he’s come back and shank him again, or worse, actually kill him next time.

And what if he targets his band mates? Alexander wouldn’t forgive himself if he let that happen.

Alexander jumps when his phone rings. That ringtone is the recognisable light polka song.

Molly.

Alexander quickly grabs his phone, he’s eager to talk to his girlfriend again, texting isn’t enough.

He clicks the answer button with a dazed smile, he loves Molly’s voice, “Good evening, my Dar-”

“WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME YOU GOT STABBED?!” Molly’s voice is shrill it it’s obvious she’s been crying. 

Aside from his surprise, and him nearly dropping his phone, Alexander listens as his Love cries in the phone. He has no idea how he’ll get out of this one.


	7. APRIL FOOLS SPECIAL

It’s super early one morning, nearly sunrise. It’s silent for the Happy Hotel

Alexander sneaking around the hotel during this time. Sneaking around and planting little boxes. These are no ordinary boxes. Filled with bluetooth technology, powerful enough to fill an opera room full of sound. Some of the strongest speakers money can buy.

He plants some in the halls, in random rooms, in the kitchen, in the lobby.

He leaves one for Charlie and Vaggie in their shared room. One for Husk at the bar. One for Niffty in her fluffy room. A small one in Crymini’s. One in Angel’s mess of a room. And three in Alastor’s room as a “fuck you” to him, Alexander is still sore about him making him tear up everything in the garden.

Alexander hurries out silently, out the door to the road. No sane demon would be driving at this hour so it’s perfectly safe.

He sees his mates tune and practice their song quietly. Part one of the plan has been initialised.

Brandon sees him and motions him over quickly, Alexander hurries over and Brandon noogies him while whispering “You little sneaky bastard.”

“It’s going to be so good.” Alexander whispers back when he’s out of Brandon’s hold.

“And we’ll pack up and run before getting caught.” Jackson butts in and manifests some drumsticks. He has a foldable drum kit. Alexander has no fucking idea how it works but Jackson can move about with it easily.

“Let’s hurry up before something happens.” Sam whispers and Hector nods with him as they both strum their strings. Brandon strums along to tune his guitar as well. Jackson plays some beat as a warm up.

“Okay, let’s go.” Jackson counts off with his drumsticks.

The Band starts playing the intro to a favourite, “Foolish One” by Chelsea Grin. It’s loud and they can practically hear the song come from the hotel instead of themselves.

Alexander immediately growls into the microphone and watches the Hotel shake “I FEAR NO GOD!”

The band continues to play and the Hotel’s lights illuminate making Alexander laugh into the microphone. He goes to growl again before all the instruments suddenly go silent, including his microphone.

“You think this is funny, do you?” Alastor appears out of nowhere with shadows surrounding his side. Alexander’s face drops while his mates shriek seeing him here.

“WHY THE FUCK IS THE RADIO DEMON HERE?!”

“… and you’ll need to pull out all the weeds I have neglected to care for.” Alastor finishes his list and Alexander stays quiet. This joke was more hassle than funny. Sure, everyone else had a good laugh about it, but Alastor… he made a mistake putting three speakers in Alastor’s room specifically. “And I want them to be done by the end of the day.”

“Sir, yes sir…” Alexander responds quietly as he’s handed the list. There’s fifty things to do on the list… Alexander probably should have gone with a quieter prank for today.

“OOOooohhh…”

Alexander and Alastor stiffen hearing the moan.

“What was that?” Alexander holds in a snicker by holding his mouth.

“Technical difficulties…” Alastor holds an irritated smile while holding his microphone. Alexander salutes still holding his mouth. That was funny. He goes to leave before Alastor speaks up again. “Find Niffty to do your first chore.”

“I have to do them in order?!” Alexander looks at the list again in astonishment. That’ll be impossible to complete! Alastor smiles and he glares at him. Prick. Alexander calls out “Niffty! I need you over here!”

They both can’t hear the familiar quick footsteps and are confused. Usually she runs right over.

“WOOF!”

Alastor jumps up high hearing that, letting out a higher pitched yell. Alexander had jumped too, but not as bad as the Red Deer.

Niffty is giggling from behind where Alastor was. She’s wearing dog ears on her head. She looks absolutely adorable.

Alastor is holding his heart looking a little frazzled, Alexander just smiles. Who knew that the Radio Demon was that jumpy? Who knew he could squeal, too?

“I better get going. Niffty, Love, do you mind getting me the dustpan and brush for me? I’ll be by the bar.” Alexander watches as Niffty nods and runs off, he hears her barking and some yelps from the others. Alexander smiles at Alastor and walks to the bar, he’ll start his chores when Niffty gets back.

At the bar, Alexander sits with Charlie and Husk. He notices some strange things.

Charlie’s jacket has sequins on the back spelling out “Bimbo” in fancy calligraphy. He holds in his smile because it’s obvious Charlie has no idea.

And Husk has a bow on top of his hat. It’s fucking adorable.

“Husk…?” Alexander holds his mouth again to hold in his snickers. The Cat looks at him and flicks his tail up. IT HAS A BOW TOO. Alexander laughs out briefly before holding it in to produce snorts instead.

“It’s not that funny.” Husk drinks his bottle while Charlie smiles and giggles. He pauses and looks to the bottle and groans “Okay, who gave me non-alcoholic booze?”

Both Charlie and Alexander are laughing.

“Who the fuck took all my toys?!” They hear Angel yell and stop laughing. They look at each other and listen in for more. Angel stays quiet. Alexander assumes he’s looking for them.

“Hey, what’s teinture verte temporaire?” Their new friend’s voice rings out. All three look over to see Crymini walking over holding a bottle of… shampoo? Alexander and Charlie hold in their laughs seeing her… green problem. Husk remains expressionless while opening a new bottle to drink, but he sees that this one is also non-alcoholic. “What are you laughing at?”

“April fools?” Charlie shrugs and Alexander laughs.

Crymini looks to Husk and he points to the Bar’s mirror. She rushed and drops the bottle seeing her hair… it’s green!

“You know, it suits you.” Alexander laughs out and calms himself down. Crymini looks over to him and Alexander pulls his hair in a ponytail, he hears Niffty coming closer. “Green’s known as a rebellious colour, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is…” Crymini pulls some hair down to look at the green when Niffty shows up.

“Okay, Alastor wants us to clear the way for the Garden’s staircase all the way up to the balcony.” Alexander is handed a dustpan and brush, he and Niffty go off into the garden’s second entrance.

“Hey babe…” Vaggie calls out as she walks to the bar. Crymini laughs out seeing the Moth Demon. Charlie smiles a little nervously seeing her, she places her paperwork down. Husk drinks a bottle he found that was actually alcohol. The Moth’s Bow was a dick pattern, and she didn’t notice! “What?”

“It’s nothing. What did you need?” Charlie picks up her pen and it explodes. She yelps and Husk chuckles while Crymini bursts out laughing again. Charlie lifts the hand covered in ink and looks to the papers… only one is covered… thank god it was blank… She turns to Vaggie again and flicks her hand on the inked paper to get rid of the ink, she notices that ink got on her dress as well “What’s up?”

“What happened to my books?” Vaggie opens her book and turns it to Charlie.

Charlie leans in and read out some words she lands on “No, Anastasia, it doesn't. Firstly, I don't make love. I fu-”

“Is that Fifty Shades of Grey?!” Crymini butts in and pushes Charlie away to read. She laughs “Oh my god, it is!”

“Fifty Shades of Grey?” Husk repeats but sounds confused.

“Angel…” Vaggie growls and snatches the book back “Now I’m glad I hid his… toys…”

“Okay, that’s chores one through twenty done…” Alexander sighs and checks off the first twenty things on the list as he and Niffty head back inside. Niffty hops alongside him and then stops. Alexander looks at her confused “what wrong, Love?”

“I forgot to give this to you.” Niffty holds up a… scarf? Is it a scarf? It looks like it’s make from plastic? “Someone replaced my yarn with fishing line, so I made scarfs to give everyone to show them I _do not back down_.”

“Creative.” Alexander, ignoring Niffty’s tone of voice at the end, compliments and wraps the weird item around his neck. It’s not uncomfortable, but it’s not comfortable. It’s like a necklace. He smiles down at Niffty while leaning down to her height and gives her a thumbs up, making her smile and hop off.

His ass is suddenly slapped. Alexander yelps and stands straight holding his rear, turning around to face Angel who’s giving him a grin. Of course, it’s Angel, but did he have to slap so hard? It feels sore… “If you didn’t want to get spanked, then don’t bend over, babe.”

“I’ll take that into consideration, Angel.” Alexander reassures and rubs his sores to ease the pain.

“AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’!” Both jump and yell hearing that voice. They spy a Radio playing a tune softly and glare at it. Alastor. Alexander must have given him the idea.

Both shake it off and walk inside, they see Charlie freaking out in silence.

“What’s up with you?” Angel crosses two arms and places two on his hips while looking over her shoulder. Alexander comes over and looks over her shoulder as well, he sees a blank piece of paper in her hands “It’s just paper.”

“I-I…” Charlie gulps and Alexander looks at her in worry. She looks like she’s about to cry. What’s wrong? “I wrote down something very-very important, but it disappeared.”

“Disappear?” Alexander grabs the piece of paper and looks it over. There’s nothing on the other side but something is off. He puts his nose on the paper and sniffs it, the scent of ink is still present. So, she did use it… but what happened “It still smells like ink.”

“Umm…” Angel holds a fist to his mouth and Charlie’s tears go away, looking relieved. Alexander tilts his head at their reactions.

Then Charlie gasps and snatches the paper “Look! It’s back!”

Alexander looks over her shoulder again and sees letters appearing. How peculiar, and he thought these things only happen in movies. Disappearing and Reappearing Ink.

Wait.

“Oh crap, it’s on my face!” Alexander rubs his nose while Angel laughs loudly and wheezes. Charlie joins him while Alexander tries to get it off.

“Where’d that come from!?” They all hear Niffty shriek and see her zooming around and cleaning the floor. There’s ink everywhere. They watch as she loses her mind.

“What did I miss?” Vaggie shows up and they turn to her.

“Nothing muuuuh…” Charlie hangs on her sentence seeing her girlfriend, her face is red. Alexander pauses and just stares confused. Angel smiles silently like he’s proud.

Vaggie’s wearing a school uniform, a very… kinky school uniform. The shirt’s basically a very tight white tank top that’s really close to the bottom of her breasts, with a black tie going down the middle. Her yellow plaid miniskirt is so short that, if he did see her from the back, Alexander could possibly she her undergarments. She also has thigh high white pantyhose and black bow shoes.

Charlie lets out a squeak and holds her mouth. Alexander almost feels bad for her, she’s either liking this or overwhelmed. Probably both.

“Why are you wearing that?” Charlie’s voice cracks in her question and Angel snickers.

“ _Someone–_ ” Vaggie glares at Angel and he holds his hands up in defence with a shit eating grin as he continues snickering “–replaced my clothes with… costumes. This is the one that covers the most skin.”

“I see…” Charlie’s face looks like a tomato.

“Would you like my jacket, Love?” Alexander offers but Vaggie shakes her head, so he doesn’t act. He looks at the list he has and looks to the Garden. He’ll take a break from his chores, it’s not like Alastor expects him to finish quickly; Alexander has the whole day to mingle with. “I’m going to garden, if you need me, wait until after my tasks.”

Alexander is carrying a box full of tools to one of his favourite parts of the garden. A relatively new pond.

This pond is special, it’s practical and it homes many plants surrounding it. The overall shape is crescent around the water’s edge to present a beautiful work of art. It has a few Red-tipped Pink Lotus in the water to draw attention to how clear and beautiful the stone filtering the bottom of the pond are, ranging from red to purple in the rainbow. There are Birds of Paradise in the front line, on the corners of the crescent. Ecuadorian Roses in the back, basically hugging the edge of the crescent with its large roses. In front of the Rose bush are Tulips, colours ranging from yellow, orange, blue and purple. Lilies of the Valley are at the feet of the tulips, hanging little white buds giving a peaceful lack of colour to the mix to balance it out. Crawling towards the water are Lilies, a Hell breed of red and white, a picture of skulls on each petal.

It’s a beautiful work in the Garden.

It’s a piece of art.

It’s trampled.

Alexander stares and drops the box. Everything is trampled. The plants are still alive, thank god, but they’re damaged.

Who did this?

“Charlie, Love?” Alexander calls out from the entrance and waits. He hears a sudden burst of “I’M A MEMBER OF THE MIDNIGHT CREW!” and a yell before laughter.

He’s soon greeted with a very happy Charlie. “Yeah?”

“Someone wrecked the garden, who was it?” Alexander asks and Charlie laughs nervously.

Crymini hides by the lounge. Alexander is looking for her. He knows she wrecked the garden.

It’s not her fault! She was just so excited!

Sure, the rest of the guys warned her about the Garden and if she did anything to wreck it, but she couldn’t control herself! She’s a Hellhound Demon! Her instincts went wild!

First it started with exploring, then sniffing flowers, hopping in the smaller ponds to get her feet wet, then running around.

While running, though… she accidentally trampled on Alexander’s most prized part of the garden… Oops?

Crymini hides behind the lounge and watches as Alexander walks by, when he’s gone she sighs and jumps over the neck to sit on the lounge.

POP!

“Fucking Hell!” Crymini yelps hearing the loud noise ringing in her ears and jumps up. The cushioning… the cushioning of the lounge… was a balloon? How the fuck did someone manage to do that?!

“Crymini.” Crymini yells hearing Alexander’s voice and she turns around, looking up at his calm expression with fear. “I have a question for you, Love.”

“Y-yeah?” Crymini shrinks with fear.

“Was it you?” Alexander leans down and Crymini nods while playing with her fingers. Alexander laughs and stands up straight with his hands behind his back, Crymini calms down and tilts her head at this. He’s… laughing? “Well, now you’ll help me fix it all up.”

“Oh…”

“Now, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?” Alexander asks while patting his hands on his pants while Crymini is on the ground by the rose bush. They had propped up all the plants with their individual wires so they could grow strong again. It wasn’t hard, but time consuming since he gave her more wires to do the roses and tulips. “Now, to put this all behind us, apologise.”

“What?” Crymini sits up looking at him confused.

“Plants have feelings too, so apologise.” Alexander motions his head to the plants and Crymini looks over to them as well. She then leans down and begins whispering apologies to the smaller flowers first.

While it’s true Plants do feel to some extent, Alexander didn’t think she’d actually consider it. It was a joke.

“I’m sorry Birdies…” He hears Crymini says and her voice is wavering. Is she crying? Why is she crying? He sees tears in her eyes as she continues “I’m sorry Valleys…”

She starts crying and Alexander is astonished. What does he do? He doesn’t know what to do? She’s crying? What should he do? Pull her up? Hug her? Tell her it’s okay? Why is she crying? Did he push her too far?

“What are you doing?” Alexander looks over seeing Vaggie coming over, still in that “school uniform” from earlier. She sees Crymini apologising to the flowers and raises an eyebrow “Why is she doing that?”

"I just asked her to apologise to the plants as a joke." Alexander explains and watches as Crymini gets on her knees to talk to the roses.

"Are you sure it was a joke?" Vaggie asks in disbelief while Alexander shrugs.

"I'm so sorry I trampled on you, Rose..." Crymini is heard sniffling out and she whines as she leans on the bush in some sort of affection.

Alexander is still confused. "Maybe not."

“For most deer, they have the untameable instinct to jump over obstacles as a survival adaption. This happens often when migrating, avoiding predators, avoiding other deer, and to overcome obstacles in their way in means of food or direction. For most deer species, they can jump over eight feet without a running start.” Alexander reads the card he found. “However, often because of this instinct, deer get trapped in fences, either getting impaled or stuck. This often leads to death and has led to deaths of over five-hundred deer yearly. Well, the more you know.”

“Yes, interesting…” Alastor mumbles but holds an annoyed smile.

Both are currently stuck, hips on the rail and caught between pickets and finials, in the garden’s central fence. They can’t get out.

It’s used for growing vines, but it’s irresistible. And someone put Christmas lights on it, so now both deer have lights stuck in their antlers. Alexander tried to get his off but couldn’t untangle them.

“Can’t you use your voodoo magic to get us out?” Alexander asks and leans back to try to get out again, it doesn’t work so he goes limp in defeat.

“If it worked that way, I could.” Alastor plays with his microphone and plays some tunes.

They’re probably going to be stuck for a while.

“Charlie!” Alexander calls out loudly as a last resort and waits for a response. None. He tries again. “Charlie! We have a situation!”

Charlie picks up yet another beer bottle from the floor. These are no ordinary beer bottles, the glass is two colours, red and white. And they’re everywhere.

On the stairs. On top of cabinets. On doorknobs. Along the railings of the stairs. On the handles in the kitchen. Some are stacked on top of each other as well. Charlie had managed to find some on the roof as well.

It is obvious that Husk has been leaving them everywhere, but why?

Charlie walks to the bar with around fifteen bottles and she places them on the counter in front of Husk. He watches as she presents them to him and drinks from his red and white bottle. Charlie finishes and sits in front of him, he stacks his bottle on top of one of hers in response.

“How many are there?” Charlie asks and waits as Husk stares at the bottles.

“I lost count.” Husk shrugs and takes off his hat, there’s a bottle under it. He takes it, puts his hat back on and drinks. Charlie has no words.

They hear someone’s footsteps and Husk grins mischievously when they hear Angel’s yell and a loud POOF of yet another flour bomb going off.

Charlie has a confused smile hearing another Flour bomb go off, then is slightly alarmed when Husk grabs a bottle and aims at something.

“Watch this.” Husk throws a bottle at the lounge. There’s a loud POP and Angel yells.

Then a thud.

“What the fuck happened to my jacket?!”

Husk laughs while Charlie looks concerned. She sees Angel covered in flour and on the floor, writhing around with two arms sticking out from the bottom of his jacket, no extra sleeves for them.

He stands up and slinks his third set of arms back in. He tries to get them out again but the same thing happens. “What the Fuck?!”

Husk chuckles and drinks another bottle, Charlie smiles while watching Angel shake off the flour and try to figure out what’s wrong with his jacket.

“Hello? Can anyone hear me?” Charlie looks around hearing a radio go off, Alastor’s voice. She stands up when she figures Husk and Angel wouldn’t care, she listens in and hears some static “Hello? Charlie?”

“Yeah?” Charlie calls out and finds a radio on the other side of the bar. She picks it up and presses a button to respond… is that how it works? It’s like a walkie-talkie right? These are Alastor’s Radios, he can listen in, so she should be able to respond back with them, right? “Alastor? Is that you?”

“Oh, thank goodness.” She hears Alastor sigh.

“You could have done that the entire time?!” Is that Alexander?

“Quiet, you.” Alastor growls and Charlie is confused. What is happening.

“We’ve been stuck for nearly an hour! Why didn’t you do that earlier?!” She hears a sudden whimper and some static “Okay! Okay! I’ll shut up! Just get her over here!”

“Now…” Alastor clears his throat “Charlie, dear, do you mind coming to the garden? Alone?”

“I’m off.” Alexander calls out and lighting his list on fire. He’s finally done! And it is nearly dinner time. Today was a fun day, a little annoying, but fun for the most part. Alexander fiddles with his antlers and gives up trying to get the lights off “See you all tomorrow!”

He leaves with a salute then hears a POOF. That’s his cue to leave.

As he walks back to his place, he thinks about his mates. Hopefully after their little joke, they’ve been having a pretty chill day as well. The Tavern wasn’t open today, because, well, it’s April Fools. Idiots will do stuff.

Alexander looks around as he walks and notices some demons staring.

Maybe when he gets back he’ll grab some pliers and cut them off.

“Hey, I’m back.” Alexander calls out and pauses.

The place is wrecked. All the tables and chairs are gone. There’s paint everywhere. Floors, walls, ceiling. Dull greys, reds, oranges, greens, and blues.

What the fuck happened? Did they redecorate or something?

“Oh, you’re back.” Alexander looks over to the bar and sees his Boss. He heads over when he sees red paint on him. What happened? “Your friends and I had a day of redecorating.”

“Redecorating…?” Alexander looks around a little confused.

“We had fun with it, they’re coming back to wax it all down.” Alexander’s Boss is looking up at his antlers in confusion. “The other place had a ball I see.”

“Yeah…” Alexander rubs his neck and leans on his hand, propping his elbow on the counter as he sits. Today was exhausting… and he’s still sore. He feels a hand on his antlers and there’s a weight lifted. Alexander looks up and seeing his Boss holding the lights. How…? Never mind… he’ll probably not understand… He takes the lights in defeat “I’ll go have a shower…”

Alexander gets up and walks to the door.

“You have a pain in the ass, Alex?” He pauses and looks to his boss. What? “Someone slap your ass or something?”

“Umm…” Alexander turns around and fiddles with the lights “How did you know?”

“You have paint on your ass.”

Alexander blushes and looks back seeing a black hand print staining his pants.

Angel…


	8. Chapter 6

It’s been a few hours of forced bed rest since Molly came over. Alexander didn’t have to work, or more accurately he wasn’t allowed to work, no matter how much he tried to convince his Boss he could work again.

It was utter nonsense, he _can_ work. Just because he bumped into a table, spilled a bucket and nearly got impaled by the mop _one_ time doesn’t mean anything! He was on painkillers; it wasn’t his fault!

But now that Molly’s here, Boss and Alexander’s mates let her to the caring now. She quite literally stormed in the minute she got off the phone with him and demanded to know where Alexander was. Alexander was actually napping when she came in, and when he opened his eyes to see his angel, she hugged him, lifted him up and bawled. Once she stopped, she scolded him about not running away the minute he had the chance.

He couldn’t really blame her, since he’s not really one to appear to be able to defend himself. And, if he can easily be subdued by his girlfriend in a play fight, who’s to say in real life he wouldn’t get something worse?

He does feel guilty about worrying her, after all, they’re supposed to be partners. If one hides the fact that they’re injured, stability crumbles.

But as much as he loves her, she can be overbearing… She practically put him on bedrest, spoon fed him, helped him clean his wound, and basically does everything she can for him while he’s recovering.

He’s not helpless, but at the moment he’s not allowed to do anything, or go out of his room for that matter. Which is infuriating because he had to basically write a novel of instructions for his mates to care for his garden and the “Special Garden” because they didn’t want him to hurt himself more!

It’s just a stab wound, why is everyone treating it like he’s got a plague?

Alexander feels a weight on his antlers and hears some clicks and chatter. Oli is pacing on his antlers and Alexander laughs when the raven caws loudly.

Oli’s been keeping an eye on him too, and recently, he’s found out that Oli clicks for Molly whenever Alexander gets out of bed. Traitor.

His phone dings and he turns his attention to it while Oli hops on his antlers and swings down to his back to walk along the bandages.

Charlie had been texting him in these last few hours as well, asking questions about his health, reassuring him about the garden, and just talking.

 _How’s today going?_ He reads and he looks to the door, Molly hadn’t come back yet and her little watcher is on his back hopping to his heart’s content.

 _It could be better. Why do I have to stay bedridden, it’s just a stab wound._ Alexander texts back and lies his head down, bored. Really, Charlie’s the only person that’s informing him about the hotel. It’s going good, which is great, but apparently Angel did something. Again. He hears a ding.

 _Dude, once you stop feeling pain, you can go out. Didn’t Jackson tell you that?_ Since when did Jackson and Charlie exchange numbers?

 _When did you get his number?_ Alexander’s question is swiftly answered.

 _When Vaggie and I checked up on you._ Okay, that’s fair. Alexander rolls on his side and he hears Oli chirp. The flutter of feathers and the weight on his ribs, Alexander takes this as an indication that Oli’s perching happily on him.

 _How’s everyone doing?_ Alexander stretches his feet and toes out. He sighs and goes limp.

 _Angel did something, not sure what, Vaggie won’t tell me. She’s fine, a little stressed, but fine. Husk drank all the alcohol and keeps buying booze. Niffty is okay, she’s fine with her job and she’s fun to talk to sometimes._ Alexander notices that she’s not talking about Alastor.

 _And the skinny red microphone creep?_ Alexander immediately gets a reply.

 _Alastor’s fine, suggesting things for us to do and helping us keep appearances. I think he’s annoyed that you’re not gardening though._ Alexander is confused by this, then he gets a following text. _He’s been looking after the garden and I think he’s beginning to think it’s getting tedious._

 _I see._ Alexander hears footsteps, a few pairs of footsteps it seems. A Ding distracts him.

 _I gotta go, Alastor wants me to study more._ Alexander sends her a quick _Good Luck_ before turning off his phone. Oli bops in spot and Alexander reaches over to give him some scritches.

Molly’s voice is heard with someone, but it sounds male.

It’s all muffled, so he can’t exactly tell what they’re saying, but they sound serious. Wait, there’s some laughter.

The door opens and he hears a male’s laugh. Sounds like Sam.

“Aww, poor Alex.” Sam laughs then quiets down seeing Alexander’s blank stare. Molly’s holding a tray and a cloche. Food. Sam clears his throat, turning Alexander’s attention to him, and he keeps a smile. “Yeah, anyway… Alex, how’s it going?”

“Bored.” Alexander responds blankly and he tilts his head to the side when Oli suddenly lands on his antlers.

“Well, shoo, shoo, off to work, Sammy. I need to look after him.” Molly shoos Sam away with her free hands and the Sam gives Molly a wink before getting out of Alexander’s sight. What’s he thinking?

“What was that about?” Alexander asks as Molly sit in front of him. She’s smiling cheekily and she lifts the cloche, it’s a full English breakfast, for an early lunch. Roasted tomatoes, a fried egg, bacon, roasted mushrooms and buttered toast. It looks delicious.

“Don’t worry, babe.” Molly picks a piece of bacon with a fork and holds it to his mouth. Alexander feels his face redden slightly but he opens his mouth so she could feed him. Molly’s been doing this since she came here, no complaints really, her cooking is heavenly, but it is a little embarrassing.

After dinner Alexander and Molly are cuddling. He likes when this happens. She’s so warm and soft…

“Are you comfortable there, honey?” Molly giggles as Alexander nuzzles into her fluff. He nods and she strokes his back, Alexander lets out a mock purr and Molly laughs out. Alexander moves away and pouts. “Sorry! That was too cute!”

“I’m not cute.” Alexander mumbles and Molly rolls over him carefully to pin him down and relax, Alexander doesn’t mind since her fluff is a nice, tickly sensation and her fur is so nice.

“You’re adorable handsome.” Molly decides and she kisses his cheek, Alexander smiles, resisting the urge to curl his hair, and he kisses her back. “Can we stay like this for a while, babe?”

“Yeah, I’ve got nothing better to do.”

It’s been a while. Both Deer and Spider cuddling each other and the Raven cooing occasionally. Time both slowing down and speeding up as two hours have flown by with ease.

Spending time in warmth distracting both lovers in bliss as they hold each other.

Then an alarm goes off.

“JESUS FUCK!” Alexander jumps and falls off the bed while Molly merely sits up surprised. She looks over and crawls over to help him up, but she giggles behind her hand seeing his hair is a complete mess. She reaches to her phone to check the alarm and he gives her a very confused expression “What is that?”

“Just a reminder.” Molly gets out of bed and she heads to her bag by the door. Alexander lets out a whine while tidying up his hair. What’s so important that she needs to get up? She pulls out a little container and Alexander glares at it. Medicine. “One of your mates said you don’t take pain well, so I brought some painkillers.”

Regardless of the dull feeling around his stab that’s _really_ annoying him, he can handle pain! He’s been handling it just fine these past few days. Sure, cleaning it the first time nearly made him cry, but he’s taking it well.

“Is this really necessary?” Alexander crosses his arms looking at the pill Molly dropped in her hand.

“It’s only oxycodone, worst case is that you wake up before I do and fall down the stairs.” Molly assures and sits on the bed beside him, she pinches his cheek affectionately and he pouts again. Molly holds the pill up and Alexander is still hesitant. This stuff makes you loopy, and not the good fun kind of loopy, the kind of loopy where you will get a headache later. Molly frowns and asks while patting his shoulder “What’s wrong?”

“It’s not going to make me…” Alexander holds his hands up thinking of the word while his Girlfriend watches him “Weird…? Will it?”

“It’s only one pill, and it’s the lowest concentration I could get. You don’t need to worry.” Molly assures and she leans in to kiss him, Alexander smiles in it and he presses back lightly. Molly pulls back and gives him a light punch in the arm “Come on take it, you have me looking after you. Nothing bad will happen, I swear.”

“Okay, Darling, love you.” Alexander takes the pill.

It’s been half an hour and they have resumed cuddling. Alexander is on top of Molly and his face is planted into her fluff, unmoving like the dead. Molly on the other hand is playing with his hair and one of his antlers, listening to Oli crow, coo and whistle as the time flies by yet again.

She can feel Alexander smile and it’s tickling her. Her boyfriend is adorable, unlike most of the other demons in Hell. He actually spends time to get to know her instead of rushing into sex.

“Molly…” Alexander whines and Molly kisses his forehead to get him to stop squirming. He stays silent but he looks up at her, she sees his slightly constricted pupils and she marvels at the many shades of purple they created, almost like they’re both glowing and covered in shadows, living harmoniously together, yet at war over land in the iris. He mumbles “I love you.”

“I love you too, Alexander.” Molly giggles as Alexander hides his face again. She puts both her hands on his antlers and brushes her fingers along the lines and dips. Alexander’s antlers may be small, but they’re strong and full of varying textures. Molly loves the velvety base of his antlers, so soft.

Alexander squirms slightly and Molly lifts her hand from his antlers to let him settle down. Molly notices that his hair is going frizzy again, maybe tying it back will help? Alexander squirms again and hugs Molly as she reaches over to her bag for a hair tie.

“Hey, Darling…” Alexander lifts his head to look at her and Molly giggles seeing him so cute and tired “Do you think sand is called sand because it’s between the sea and land?”

“I don’t know, baby, it probably is.” Molly rakes her fingers through his hair with a hair tie, he squirms but she manages to tie his hair. She kisses his cheek and he leans back down. Molly pats his back when he settles down and rests her head on her fluff.

Alexander eventually passes out on top of Molly. She stays silent and brushes her fingers through his pony tail. She lifts one hand to feel the velvet on his antlers and massages the base.

Alexander is one of the most interesting demons she’s met in hell, and one of the gentlest as well. He’s her cuddly fawn.

Alexander moves and his body moves up, Molly waits unmoving as he kisses her cheek in his sleep. He mumbles something she can’t make out and drops his head down on her shoulder.

His quiet snoring soon fills the air.

Oli is perched on his branch as he watches the two demons cuddle.

He opens his wings and flaps on spot, he takes flight. Oli glides to the bed and hops when he lands. He clicks his beak and walks around.

He pecks at Molly’s dress and pulls to entertain himself. He pulls out the skirt and he hides his head underneath. He lifts his head with the skirt over his head and he whistles.

The skirt slips off his head and he crows. He hops on Molly’s leg and walks up and down. He hops once, twice then stops when Molly lifts another leg. Oli flaps his wings to get up of the higher leg and perch briefly. He stands and hops up to her feet and opens his wings making dropping sounds.

Molly laughs as Oli continues to hop on her legs and make noises. This bird is so cute, no wonder Alexander kept him.

Oli stops hopping and walks up her leg, over Alexander’s body, to Alexander’s shoulder blades. He hops on the spot, cooing to his heart’s content and he pulls some of Alexander’s hair.

“No, don’t do that.” Molly whispers and she pulls Alexander’s hair to the side. Oli makes a whining crow and lowers himself to perch on Alexander’s back. Molly holds up and hand to him and he steps up on her fingers, Oli clicks his beak as Molly lifts him to her hair “You can play with my hair.”

Oli stays quiet. Molly lowers her hand to place on Alexander’s back, she couldn’t feel Oli move, but she smiles when she feels Oli pull her hair.

Alexander’s mind is foggy but he smiles none the less. He loves how soft his girlfriend is, like a pillow, but fluffier. Total bliss. But he comes to notice that he is not, in fact, on his girlfriend. And he frowns learning that fact.

“I’m fine, I’m just hanging.” Alexander hears Molly says and he turns his head to see her by the door with her bag, talking on the phone and looking a little annoyed “No, I don’t need you to pick me up.”

Alexander wonders who she’s talking to. He turns over to face her so he could see her properly. She turned around and didn’t notice him watching her.

“Bro, you need to stop worrying! Arackniss isn’t this worried!” Molly whines and Alexander’s ears perk hearing “Bro.” She’s talking to her brother? Alexander wonders what type he is; protective? Chill? Cool? And who’s Arackniss? He’ll ask about them later, but who’s this brother she’s talking to? He’s never met him, he’s only heard about her family, and for some reason she doesn’t want him meeting them. “Angel, I’m fine, I’m just looking after my boyfriend!”

Angel?

As in Angel Dust?

FUCK.

Alexander’s mind blows up with thoughts of surviving his possible assassination. He needed to calm down. After all, there are hundred, possibly thousands of demons in hell with the name “Angel”, and there are some he knows of that have Angel as a stage name, so a guy “Angel” is completely normal.

It certainly couldn’t be-

"There is a difference between your sister being in a relationship, and her brother being the infamous Angel Dust staring in pornos with more dicks than you can handle!"

Shit.

Alexander is nervous as Molly is in the bathroom.

Okay, Angel Dust and Molly are related. Angel is one of the most protective demons he knows, and if he’s so protective over a little piglet, Alexander can’t imagine how protective he would be over his own flesh and blood.

“Hey, babe, are you sure your Boss doesn’t mind me staying the night?” Molly calls from the bathroom and Alexander holds up a smile when she comes out. She’s wearing a black night gown; it’s looks to be silk, it goes up to her thighs but due to her having twice as many legs as usual, it’s riding up slightly higher. She looks gorgeous.

“Yeah-yeah, he’s fine with it.” Alexander stutters and curls his hair. He loves Molly so, so, so much. Honestly, she’s scares him with how forward she can be sometimes. She scares him more after he’s made his connection between her and Angel Dust, after all, Angel can summon a fucking MINI GUN from outta nowhere, imagine what his sister can do… Stuck between love and fear, Alexander has no idea what to do. “So…”

“So…” Molly crawls in front of him and Alexander laughs nervously. Oh boy “I think it’s time I took care of you properly, baby…”

“You-you don’t have to Molls…” Alexander leans back when she reaches two hands over. Oh god, what should he say? Sure, he wants to, but Angel’s her brother! Alexander can only imagine why Angel doesn’t know he’s dating his sister is because Molly won’t tell him that Alexander is dating her, and if that’s the case then Alexander can only imagine what Angel would do to him. But he can’t say that to her! Alexander curls his hair was Molly pushes him on his back. Wait, where’s Oli? Wasn’t he on his perch? He’s got to still be in the room! Perfect! “I just don’t want Oli to see what we’re about to do… you know?”

“You don’t need to worry, babe…” Molly leans down and kisses his cheek. Alexander feels a blush and he smiles at how gentle Molly is being. Molly leans back up and Alexander swears he can see her eyes glow “Oli’s with Brandy and Jacky, stretching his wings.”

She kisses him straight on the lips.

Fuck it, he’ll deal with it later. Molly comes first.

Alexander rakes his hands through Molly’s hair and kisses back with the same enthusiasm. She pulls him up slightly and crashes him back down to make him gasp.

Molly slips her tongue in and Alexander moans. Two of her hands are running down his body as she leans over him, putting pressure on his arms and upper body, effectively pinning him to the point he cannot move.

Molly pulls back from the kiss and moves onto kissing Alexander’s neck, resulting in him moaning softly. He continues to let out small sounds, feeling her kisses and her hands tickle his skin. She kisses him on the lips again as her hands takes hold of his sides and front, in effort to steady him for what comes next.

Then she presses his abdomen.

Alexander rips away feeling pain, yelping out "Ow! Molly! Stab wound! Stab wound!"

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!” Molly spews out apologies and gets off.

And thus, the rest of the night was spent cuddling and Molly apologising for hurting him, but at least the pain killers sort of worked.


	9. Chapter 7

It’s been a month and so far everything at the Hotel has been going smoothly. Angel’s been out of trouble for the most part, Alastor’s really brightened up the place and had put some advertisements on the radio, Niffty’s a goddess with cleaning, Husk’s… okay.

And Alexander’s been tending the garden again! But now he brings Jackson, or another one of his friends since he’s, how he puts it, “grounded”. It’s cute how his friends worry for him. And everyone is now acquainted, but it’s mostly Jackson who visits.

Vaggie and Charlie are happy with what’s happening. Well, mostly Charlie. Speaking of which, Charlie’s learnt a lot about redemption, or in theory. She may need to hire a therapist or psychologist, or just learn herself.

And they’ve made a large leap! They have another Patron!

Her name is Crymini, she’s a little younger than Charlie expected, but that’s good! She can learn easier!

Crymini’s a little rebellious, though, but that’s to be expected for her age.

So, in celebration, Crymini had suggested going to The Note String’s Club, and Charlie saw this as a brilliant idea! Perfect to both introduce Crymini to Alexander and to celebrate!

But… A certain band is playing…

The Rose of Blasphemy.

“Of course we came here on a performing day…” Vaggie holds her nose while Charlie smiles awkwardly beside her.

“You never know, it might not be that bad.” Charlie looks to the bright side, even though she has a strong opinion on the Metal Genre of music, and she looks to the rest of the group. Alastor looks immensely annoyed. Husk doesn’t look like he gives a fuck. Niffty is sipping a glass and is off in her own little world. Crymini looks happy. Almost _too_ happy.

“Okay, everyone, how’re you all doing tonight?” They hear one of the guitarists, the Grey Dog-looking one, speak in the mic. The crowd just BOOMS in volume; Charlie covers her ears at that. “Hell yeah!”

The drums go off to begin the song. And the Growling begins.

“What is that?” Alastor taps his fingers, annoyed.

“Your Shirt Would Look Better With A Columbian Necktie. It’s a song by I killed The Prom Queen.” The Bartender explains and everyone looks to him. His Alexander’s Boss. He’s looking over to the stage seeing the band go all out “They’re compensating for recent events. Those boys are interesting…”

On stage Alexander is having fun with his chorus, he takes of his shirt when it gets a little warm but also because some fangirls are cheering for it. He’ll get a new one, they’re cheap.

He yells to some fans to hype himself up while there’s a brief instrumental. There’s a bit of fencing between him and them, to keep them out and to keep them from potentially hurting him. Hopefully his little gauze on his abdomen isn’t very noticeable, he doesn’t want anyone to take a chance.

Because of what happened earlier… the shanking… His mates made changes to how Alexander performs now while his gauze remains on him. For one, he’s no longer allowed to physically interact with the crowd, no diving – he’s never done that anyway – and no VIP meetings. And with these new restrictions, they added more security around the stage so no one acts stupid.

All so no one hurts him, on purpose or by accident.

Sure, it sucks, but the Boss has a plan for when everything mellows out. Money, money, money, it makes the world go round – or in this case, Hell.

Everything will go back to normal when everyone stops freaking out.

His attention is suddenly diverted by a group at the bar. They look like the gang. Hell, they even have a Red Deer, too. Oh, the Spider looks like Angel, too.

He knows that it’s not them, after all, why would they come here on a performing night?

Hearing his cue, he resumes his part again.

As he performs, he thinks about the Hotel. His mates have been joining him on his trips and helping out when gardening, and granted, though it was annoying, he appreciates their concerns.

After all, it’s better than Molly’s idea with the leash and collar.

And being “grounded” isn’t that bad, since he doesn’t have to work that hard. Downside it that now his Boss wants him to work double time when he’s officially better, with both the “Special Garden” and with cleaning. And, he’s not allowed to go anywhere without eyes on him! It’s like he’s on probation! In Hell of all places!

When the song ends, Alexander holds his throat and rubs it to ease the strain. He likes this feeling, it means he’s trying his hardest.

“Alex, An Honourable Reign.” Hector calls out and Alexander gives him a thumbs up.

“Bury Tomorrow, got it.” Alexander swings his microphone before grabbing it.

The Drums begin and Alexander pumps himself up.

“Sick tats…” Vaggie states and Charlie nods in agreement. The Rose on his back scares her slightly though, it’s dark and red, like wine, but… there’s something else about it…

“If Alexander were here, he’d probably love that!” Niffty states and she points out something else “It’s so pretty! Look at how red it is!”

“Indeed.” Alastor agrees and he sips his whiskey. He does not look impressed with this establishment. He sneaks a glass from Husk while the Cat wasn’t looking and smiles mischievously when Husk glares at him.

“He should be working here, where is he?” Charlie asks and looks around. Actually, where is the staff? She can’t see Alexander’s friends, either.

“On break from working.” The Bartender explains and serves Charlie a non-alcoholic Wine Spider “He and his friends don’t work when the band is playing.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense.” Charlie mumbles and pays the sum before sipping her spider.

After some hype up from the band, the crowd roars again.

“The singer kind of looks like our garden nut.” Angel suddenly comments and laughs, making everyone looks over.

“He does, doesn’t he…?” Alastor agrees and he’s a little tenser when the drums begin. This must be really annoying for him.

"Reign upon me, how will I survive? Try and tell me a way to feel alive. Bring it back to life, to whole new heights and tell me what is needed…” The Vocalist sings. This song isn’t that bad, they can actually make out the words now. “I know you'll guide me home down this darkened road."

Then the growls begin and everyone tries to ignore the song and the crowd cheering.

Vaggie, though, Vaggie is thinking. The Singer does look like Alexander…

“So…” Crymini begins a little awkwardly “You guys wouldn’t mind… if I… umm…”

“What is it?” Charlie asks a little concerned.

“I like this band.” Crymini confesses and Vaggie groans, of course she does. Charlie sighs, but she nods with a smile and Crymini gets up in excitement, cheering “Thank you! Woo!”

She runs off into the crowd.

On the ride back home, Crymini is talking away with Charlie, Alastor is humming and seems beyond pleased with being out of there, Husk is drinking a bottle he’s bringing home, and ignoring Angel, Niffty is humming too, but to a different tune as she eats some ice cream.

Vaggie’s thinking. There are a few coincidences that she can’t ignore.

Alexander works at The Note String’s Club, the band plays there as well.

He works with four other demons, the band has five members.

Alexander is a deer, the vocalist is a deer.

His friends are the same demon types as the band!

Too many coincidences! Is that why he acts weird each time they bring up music?

At the Hotel, Vaggie goes to her and Charlie’s shared room. She needs to get this out of her head. She sits at the desk and turns on the computer. She logs in and immediately looks up “Rose of Blasphemy” on Hell’s equivalent to YouTube, SinHole.

The band has a lot of popularity in Hell, she finds. They popped up a few years after she came to Hell, a fact that she also correlates with Alexander’s timeline.

She clicks on the video titled “Rose of Blasphemy – There Will Be No Violins When You Die, I Killed The Prom Queen”. Immediately she had to turn down the volume when there’s a loud cheering from the crowd.

“ _What the fuck is up! How’re we all doing tonight?_ ” The Vocalist’s voice sounds just like Alexander’s. The Crowd roars and he laughs. She knows that laugh. That is definitely Alexander. No, no it can’t be… Surely, there are a lot of demons with that laugh.

The instrumental begins and Vaggie holds her nose as it plays. The introduction isn’t bad… it’s tolerable, and honestly it sounds nice, but she notices that the vocalist isn’t singing.

She rewinds to when he talks and listens. She keeps rewinding. And thinks. He does sound like Alexander…

When she realises that she can zoom in, she confirms her suspicions. This is Alexander. Those highlights in his hair and those eyes… she knows no one else in Hell that has them.

“Hey, Charlie.” Vaggie calls out and she hears footsteps. She sees Charlie come in and she motions to the video, even though her suspicions may be confirmed… she needs a second opinion in case she gets this wrong. Charlie leans on Vaggie’s shoulder and watches as the video replays the beginning where Alexander speaks.

“That’s Alexander?” Charlie asks astonished. She pauses the video before the song begins and Charlie registers his voice. She agrees that the vocalist sounds like Alexander… but they couldn’t be the same person. Right? Then she zooms in seeing something “wait… Is that a bluebell?”

It is. On the Vocalist’s arm is a small bluebell. In the exact place Alexander had shown them…

There’s no denying it now, that is Alexander.

“What is it that you are showing me?” Alastor asks as he looks to the screen, he flinches back hearing the crowd erupt from the laptop.

Everyone, minus Crymini has been gathered. The Hell Hound is napping in her room and Charlie didn’t have the heart or the gall to wake her up. A rule in Hell, never wake up a Hell Hound.

“Well, we found out that Alexander’s part of The Rose of Blasphemy.” Vaggie explains and everyone pauses in confusion, perfect timing because that’s when the Alexander on the laptop speaks. Angel almost looks bewildered, like a lightbulb went off in his head. His reaction is more out there than everyone else.

“No way that’s him.” Husk chuckles and leans in. Is he… impressed? His eyes widen slightly and he laughs. It is both strange and terrifying “holy shit.”

“That makes so much sense!” Niffty states with surprise and hops on the spot.

Alastor is producing some static noises and, with his smile, Charlie and Vaggie can’t tell what he’s thinking. After a few seconds, he finally states “How interesting.”

“So, yeah… that’s new…” Charlie states a little awkwardly. She has no idea what to do. Should she confront Alexander? Should she wait until he comes to her? How could he hide this from her…? The Rose of Blasphemy has been around for a few years, so it’s not like he’s a new member. Did he not trust her enough for her to know?

Husk goes back to the bar; he looks like he has had enough. He doesn’t look too bothered with the news.

Niffty zooms off. She wasn’t really bothered either.

Alastor hums and he wonders off as well. Charlie and Vaggie look at each other hearing a questionable sound from his static.

Angel is silent. He’s thinking…

His Sister said that she was dating someone in a Death Metal band, or whatever. Tall, a little goth-like, he pleases her and treats her like a delicate but fighting rose. Immediately, he did not like the sound of this guy. Anyone like that is no good in his books, no matter how much he treats his sister right. No one deserves _his_ sister, especially anyone in _HELL_!

But now… ohh, now. After all this time, he now has a late eureka moment, finally realising who Molly's boyfriend is.

Her tall, shy, dorky, death metal, goth deer boyfriend to be exact.

It all fits now.

Alexander’s dead.

Angel storms out angrily mumbling to himself, Vaggie and Charlie watch him converned, but overall they just leave him alone. Charlie’s concerned but she figures it’s something Angel has to figure out. Maybe he’s not taking it well?

Charlie looks to Vaggie a little hesitantly, she’s lost. Vaggie doesn’t look much different.


	10. Chapter 8

It’s been a few days and Alexander is allowed to go to the hotel by himself now, but now he has noticed some things…

The hotel has a new patron is great an all, but he’s not sure how to deal with her attitude. Crymini’s a little bit too… teenager for his patience. She’s loud, rude and defensive. One can only imagine what she’s been through in Hell, being a teen and all, and with that thought, he tolerates most of her attitude. Until his garden gets involved, then he’ll start being stern, that’s a general rule he’s made for himself regarding her.

But another weird thing he’s been noticing is everyone else is acting… off.

Charlie keeps giving him vary looks, like she’s cautious or… it’s not fear. Definitely not fear… it is distrust? What did he do? Did he do something bad? He hopes not, he likes Charlie, she’s one of the few demons he likes to talk freely with.

Vaggie is a little more hostile. Maybe something’s annoying her? Alexander would hate to think it is related to Charlie’s current attitude to him.

Alastor isn’t acting much different but he’s trying to press his buttons more. Alexander has no idea why, and he doesn’t know what he did to deserve such treatment. The Radio Demon also makes weird comments about his work, about his mates, how harmoniously dissonant they are. It’s confusing. But, often Alastor gives him a pat on the back, at least once a work day. So affectionate, and Alexander has no idea why. He’s not planning to eat him, right?

Angel is giving him a little more… negative attention. Like he’s pissed at Alexander for something. Alexander has no idea what he did to get on the Spider’s nerves. Angel’s being… unreasonable? At most he’s acting a little dangerous around Alexander, playing with knives and giving him the silent treatment unless he’s… flirting with him… What did Alexander do?

Niffty and Husk are pretty much indifferent, if not for a few things. Niffty seems to hang around him more often now, and she’s asking him more questions, most of which relate to music. Maybe she wants to learn some music? It makes him wonder what instrument she wants to play, or perhaps if she wants to sing. It’s adorable. Husk is a little more vocal with him, like he has more respect, which is weird because he knows Husk’s respect is hard to earn. Well, somehow he did it, Alexander – although weirded out – doesn’t have much to complain about. He gets a few more drinks now.

“Charlie, Love, do you know what happened to the axe?” Alexander asks while coming back from the garden, covered in dirt and grime. The root system the trees have is a mess, most roots are too close to the surface, some are wrapped around each other, some are girdling. He needs to fix it before rotting and dehydration occurs, or worse. He sees Charlie by the lounge with Vaggie and she appears nervous, Vaggie looks a little annoyed. Is something happening? “I need the one with the metal-”

“I can’t do it anymore!” Charlie bursts and Alexander tilts his head confused.

“What’s wrong, Love?” He asks carefully as he gets closer, Vaggie glares at him and he flinches. Oh shit, he did something.

“The hell didn't you tell us you were in that band?” Vaggie asks with hostility. Honestly, he was distracted by how aggressive she was with him before he registered the question.

He blinks confused and remains silent while trying to think is reasons, holding in panic. How did they find out? Are they mad he’s part of the band or mad that he didn’t tell them? At this point he doesn’t know. He decides voice out the first sentence that he could voice “Was it important?”

Vaggie crosses her arms and looks at him with one eyebrow raised. Ahh, the silent “Are you serious” look. Alexander has seen it many times, usually when he’s in trouble. Which he apparently is.

Alexander asks again, but a little flustered “well, was it?”

They both look at each other then give him an inquisitive look.

“Yeah, Kinda…” Charlie answers a little awkwardly.

“It…" Alexander stutters and tugs his hair “… slipped my mind?”

Vaggie responds with a sarcastic “uh-huh” while giving him a look of disbelief. He assumes they’re calling out his bullshit. They know that he knew that they disapproved of his genre of music, and now they know that he purposely hid that fact of him from them.

“To be honest…” Alexander hides one eyes behind his hair in nervousness. Here goes, the moment of truth. “Would you have even liked me if I told you I was part of Rose of Blasphemy?”

Vaggie and Charlie look at each other unsure how to respond. Alexander feels… void? Is that a feeling? Whatever it is, it makes him feel like… a mixture between guilt, sadness, emptiness and disappointed. This concoction is giving him a bad stomach ache when he figures out the answer to his question.

“I better get back to work.” Alexander mumbles and walks off. What was he doing before he talked to them? What does it matter? It’s not like he’s going to be welcomed back after today.

“Vaggie…” Charlie rubs her arm and looks to the Moth. She feels bad. They’ve been treating this situation like it’s the plague, and now that they’re confronted Alexander on it… he looked so hurt…

“I know…” The Moth holds her nose. Now she feels a little bad. “Let’s talk to everyone about it first…”

“Living room?” Charlie suggests and Vaggie nods. “I’ll get Alastor and Angel.”

Angel is in his room, pacing across the floor while pulling at his hair.

Molly is dating Alexander. Alexander is _dating his sister_. God Damn it! He should have known! It was obvious! And Alexander didn’t even _try_ to tell him?

“Can you believe this?! This is ridiculous!” Angel rants and turns to his Pig. Fat Nuggets oinks at him “Yeah! I don’t get it! What does she see in him?!”

Fat Nuggets snorts and oinks while Angel continues to rant.

“I mean, what else is he hiding?!” He bursts out and lifts up his piglet. Fat Nuggets oinks and stares at him, Angel smiles and hugs him, then continues ranting “And Molly is dating him! If he’s hiding something else, what if it’s bad? What if he hurts her? I’ve seen his vine things! What if he uses then on her?!”

Regardless of how kinky they look, those vines do not look safe! They have thorns!

“And no one is good enough for my Sister!” Angel rants and swings Fat Nuggets around, the pig is having a ball “and I mean no one!”

Fat Nuggets is dropped on the bed and he squeal, he hops up and runs to Angel Dust again, seemingly wanting to be swung and dropped again.

“And! If he can hide am noticeable fact about him from me that easily, who’s to say his secrets aren’t much harder to hide! He’s no good I tell you! No good!” Angel continues to rant and swings Fat Nuggets around again, the Pig squeals when he’s dropped on the bed again “I may be oblivious and maybe even a bit dumb! But I can recognise these things! I grew up in the fucking mob! I should have-”

There’s a knocking and Angel stops, holding Fat Nuggets up and looking to the door.

“Hey, Angel?” Charlie opens the door just as he drops Fat Nuggets. The Pig oinks and snorts running around on the bed while Angel crosses his arms “We’re having a talk about Alexander.”

“Okay.” Angel shrugs and exits his room. This better be good.

In the Living Room, Charlie and Vaggie had gathered the gang, minus Crymini. Both girls had figured she already knew, how wouldn’t she? If it seemed obvious to them now, how would it not be obvious to a new player?

“So…” Charlie starts a little awkwardly, she’s glancing outside, seeing Alexander hacking away at some roots. Se breathes in and continues “What’s everyone’s-”

“We’re keeping him.” Alastor decides. Charlie blinks a few times at his rash decision. Vaggie stares in disbelief. “He’s entertaining.”

Husk lifts his beer is a “cheers” motion and leaves.

“We’re keeping him!” Niffty repeats Alastor and she zooms off to resume her duties.

Vaggie holds her nose and looks over to Alastor when he walks off. They don’t seem to care. She looks to Angel who looks like he’s bothered “what about you?”

“I don’t care he’s in a band, it’s just music.” Angel growls and taps his fingers on his arms.

“Is something-?” Charlie goes to ask but Angel storms off before she could finish. She laughs nervously and turns to Vaggie, who is still trying to figure out what happened “So, we’re keeping him?”

“We wanted to keep him in the first place…” Vaggie groans and holds her head “that was not what the meeting was for!”

“Well…” Charlie thinks. No one cares. Maybe she was over thinking everything? This is Alexander, a shy, dorky guy that loves plants with a passion. He cries over a dead flower. And even though he’s scary when mad, he’s still gentle. His mad side is mostly a show… mostly. He’s still him even though he’s a part of the Rose Of Blasphemy. She’s made her decision “nothing changes.”

“What?”

“We were over thinking it! So what if he’s a part of a Death Metal band? He’s still Alexander!” Charlie explains with a smile. She does feel horrible for holding doubt and disappointment against Alexander just because of this silly situation.

Alexander is nervous. Charlie’s walking him back home and his mind is racing. All his thoughts basically run back to the same thoughts and questions.

Is Charlie still mad at him?

Will she fire him?

Is she going to ban him from the hotel?

Is she disappointed?

She’s not going to say she can’t be friends with him right? He likes Charlie! She’s one of his closest friends in Hell (other than his mates)! He wants to keep her as a friend!

“Alexander?” He deer jumps and looks down at her. She looks at him concerned and Alexander calms himself down. Charlie’s not like that. She’ll probably give him a soft talking to… but then again… “Are you okay?”

“I’m fin-fine, Love.” Alexander stutters and pulls his hair, looking away and beginning to get back to his thoughts. He’s feeling that weird feeling again. Is it stress? Is this what the emotion of stress feels like? Then he feels his hand being held. Alexander looks down at Charlie and sees her smiling up at him. What? “Yes, Love?”

“How long have you been in the band?” She asks and Alexander nearly stops. Why is she asking him this?

“A few years, since 2015.” He answers simply and he’s trying to register why she’s asking him this. Is she interested? “May I ask why you are asking me this?”

“I just want to know more.” She answers simply and Alexander nods, understanding little, but it seemed to calm him down. At least he knows she’s not mad at him. His attention is caught again when she asks “is it fun?”

“Of course it’s fun! It’s the best feeling!” Alexander smiles as he answers. He feels a lot happier now, no more feeling the stress emotion “it’s amazing!”

“It’s like getting a high, right?” Charlie’s question confuses him slightly, but he figures it’s because she likes singing as well.

“Why are you asking me all this?” Alexander raises an eyebrow at her. Charlie just simply smiles back at him.

“Well, I just want to know more about your band.” Charlie answers and she swings their hands along as they walk. “And, don’t worry, we don’t mind it, we were just… shocked at how obvious it was.”

“Everyone else is okay with it?” Alexander is confused by this. They’re okay with this? Then why were they acting so weird?

Charlie wave her free hand and dismisses his mental concerns “Oh, Alastor’s fine, he just doesn’t want to talk about it, I don’t think he likes your genre. Niffty’s okay, Husk thinks it’s hilarious but I don’t think he really cares. Vaggie and I are okay with it now.”

“Husk thinks it’s hilarious?” Alexander is astonished. Well, that’s an accomplishment. But she didn’t mention Angel. He seemed angry with him… “What about Angel?”

“Angel’s going through things I don’t understand, but he’s accepting it.” Charlie’s answer makes him wonder what’s going on with Angel.

“And you’re fine with…” Alexander rolls his other hand thinking of his example “all this?”

“Of course! You’re still my friend!” Charlie reassures him and smiles seeing him cheer up. Sure, she kind of disapproves of his band, but if it makes him happy, she shouldn’t comment on it. It’s his choice and she’s happy if he’s happy. “Besides, music isn’t a sin as long as it does defame God or whatever, it’s fine! And it makes you happy, so why should I rain on your parade?”

“Yeah, it does.” Alexander jumps when Charlie hugs him. He hugs back and lifts her up. She laughs out when Alexander spins her around. When he puts her down, they continue walking.

Alexander feels a lot better now. No one is angry with him, and he wants it to stay that way.

Vaggie is sorting through some papers and she’s lost in thought. How could Alexander hide something so obvious?

“What are you thinking, sweetheart?” Alastor asks with a shit eating smile, leaning over the desk to get in her face. Vaggie groans and leans back, tempted so much to hit him if it weren’t for the fact he could cut off her arm with ease.

“How can he hide something so obvious?” And expanding on that question, if he can hide that character changing fact about him, what else is he hiding? If he can hide something so out there with ease, how easy would it be for him to hide a _secret_?

“Perhaps you should ask him when he returns his next work day.” Alastor hums and moves away, his static still sounds off. Vaggie knows that he doesn’t want to talk about it. Does that mean Alexander also _fooled_ the infamous _The Radio Demon_?

Husk serves a drink for Angel and he leans away when the Spider gives him a glare. Angel snatches the drink and Husk is fed up with this “What the fuck is with you?”

“Garden Nut is dating my sister.” Angel growls and downs his drink. He is pissed. He doesn’t care if Alexander seems like a good person! Dating his sister crossed the line!

“Oh! That’s spicy!” Niffty appears suddenly and Angel jumps, he soon slumps down again and drinks another drink.

“And Vags isn’t going to let me skin him alive.” Angel mumbles and Niffty tilts her head at that. Sure, he hadn’t told her about his current situation, but if he does try, she will certainly kick his ass.

“So?” Husk asks and downs his bottle.

“So?!” Angel yells and both Niffty and Husk lean back “He’s fucking dating _my sister_!”

Angel yells more and storms off. Both Niffty and Husk look at each other. Husk continues his drinking while Niffty moves on to tidy up.


	11. Chapter 9

It’s been a week since Everyone found out and now that everything is okay between Alexander and the rest, his work has been flying.

Life has been easy going. Charlie has been letting him practice on his breaks in a room that Alastor had specifically told him to practice in.

Heaven forbid Alexander practices out of that room.

Husk lets him talk when he visits for the drink, he doesn’t listen, but he’s good to talk to.

He and Crymini have been getting along, she likes watching him garden and asks questions about each plant. He even let her join sometimes, planting flowers and letting her keep a few seeds so she could try growing them.

Crymini may be a little loud and rebellious, like most teens, but she’s fun to be around once she likes you enough.

Niffty and him get along a little better now, to the point he lets her trance his tattoos and colour in some blank areas.

Vaggie and him have been getting along as well, better than after the… incident. She has been giving his specific instructions for the garden, which he’s all in for. She wants the garden to have specific areas with themes. He can do that. But the whole colour thing is difficult.

The garden has four main areas, and so far they’re relating to colours. Bright, grayscale, pale and pretty much tame.

There’s the rainbow area, the colourful section. Charlie wanted it to be really colourful, Alexander has so problem with it, it means he can keep his little pond section.

There’s the Black and white section Alastor requested. Only black and white plants are in there and it’s so fucking hard to maintain because Hell only has one deep black plant, and it’s a tree. A giant Bonsai looking thing that has a mind of its own! Its branches move each day and Alexander has to put them in back in place so they could set properly.

The Butterfly section. It’s basically a lot of flowers, large and small. He was asked to make it a small picnic area, so there is a lot of space with grass. There are a lot of Hibiscus, bluebells, some pig-faces for Angel, Butterfly bushes (of course), some Lantana, some Phlox, Blue Stars, Heliotropes, and Lavender. And before he forgets, he needs to add some Asters.

The Peaceful section. Hedges, a koi pond, a few benches to sit on. The flowers are mainly lilies and lotuses in the koi pond, and the koi are easy to maintain as long as they’re fed and can breathe. It’s pretty tame compared to the rest of the garden.

And those are the only sections so far, the rest of the garden is still under maintenance.

But aside from the garden… Alexander has been… a little stressed.

Angel’s been… acting weird, and it’s scaring him.

For the past week, Angel has been… flirting with him. But it’s not flirting, exactly, it has an underlying… threat to each one.

Alexander can think back to a few situations back in the week.

_“Your eyes are so pretty…” Angel had complimented and Alexander felt a blush bloom on his face out of confusion. “I just wish I could pop them out.”_

_Immediately the flattering embarrassment turned to fear and confusion._

_“Oh you’re so adorable when your flustered it's almost like you’re on fire.” Angel winks at him and Alexander felt his cheeks to calm down. His confusion and fear were justified._

_Another situation being the next day_

_“Damn, you and your antlers are beautiful. I can't wait you hang them on my wall.”_

_Alexander doesn’t remember how Angel presented himself for that one, all he remembers is feeling scared._

_The third day… Angel started with a strange one…_

_“Help, somethings wrong with my eyes – I just can’t take them off you.”_

_That one wasn’t so bad…_

_But he was holding a gun._

_The Fourth Day, Alexander has notices a trend… Angel starts with pickup-lines that steadily get scarier throughout the day._

_“Hey baby, are you a broom, because I wanna lock you in my closet.” Angel laughed and Alexander nervously joined him while drinking his beer._

_On the Fifth day, Alexander was hoping someone at this point would comment._

_Angel’s first pickup-line of the day was in front of someone._

_“Don’t let this talk turn into a murder.” Charlie was walking by and Angel continues, saving his ass when she looks over in shock “because I’d definitely slay you in bed.”_

_Charlie then walked off. It sounded like a normal pickup-line…_

_And yesterday…_

_“Wow, are you a model? Because I'd like to shoot you a hundred times a minute.” Angel leant in and Alexander laughs nervously, eying the Spider’s lower body in case he summons a gun._

_“Th-thank you, Angel…” He mumbles awkwardly and hides his eyes behind his hair. He jumps in his seat when Angel purrs and pets his arm._

_“Oh baby, I’d like to peel off your hide and wear it like a coat.” Angel giggled and wrapped Alexander’s arm around his shoulders. Alexander wanted desperately to pull his arm back._

In his break, Alexander sits at the bar with Husk. Angel hasn’t “flirted” with him yet and he’s almost dreading seeing him again.

Husk serves him a pint of beer as Alexander looks around. Angel’s nowhere in sight. Alexander sighs in relief and drinks.

He really needs a drink…

“Hey, babe.” And just like that, Alexander spat out what’s in his mouth, off to the side. He looks to his other side and sees Angel sitting next to him. The Spider is giving him a nice smile, his body language is peaceful, but his aura is dark. He’s mad.

“Hello, Angel…” Alexander greets back quietly and shrinks down when Angel leans in. Alexander pulls his head and looks to Husk for help, he gets one shake of the head and sees Husk drink some booze. He’s on his own. “What can I do you for today, Love?”

Angel leans back, now frowning. Alexander leans back up in confusion before flinching when Angel scowls at him “Look, you son of a bitch, I know you're dating Moll.”

Then Alexander his feeling little more nervous than before. Angel found out, but how? Did Molly tell him? Alexander laughs slightly and taps his fingers on the counter for Husk, he gets a glass. Not much help. He clears his throat and asks “o-oh umm… How did you find out?”

Angel gives him the look. The looks that says “Are you fucking kidding me, you idiot?”. This isn’t good. “Are you fucking kidding me, Metal head? Molly told me she's dating a singer from your place.”

“Oh… right.” Alexander continues to pull his hair. So… did Molly not tell him? Is that why he’s mad? Alexander stays silent in this very awkward silence. Seconds go by and Alexander can’t handle it… “Are you ma-?”

“WHAT DO YOU THINK?” Angel yells and Alexander holds his ground, albeit weak, he manages not to run away or jump off his chair. Angel’s pissed.

“Okay um…” Alexander laughs nervously again and leans away slightly, he makes pathetic jazz hands “well… surprise?”

“Just please tell me you didn't fuck…” Angel groans and holds his... non-existent nose. Hearing nothing, he looks back to see Alexander's face red as he now drinks his beer, shoulders up, hunched forward. He did not. “You didn't, right?”

“Well... maybe?” Alexander avoids eye contact, sipping his beer. He’s digging his own grave.

“ _Maybe_?” Angel repeats with a touch of _murder_. Alexander can only answer in one way, with his vocal cords too afraid to work. He shrugs with a nervous smile. “Your death depends on the amount of times you did it.”

Alexander jolts and holds his neck. Oh boy, this is bad, really bad, Angel wants to kill him, he’s probably going to die soon. Molly definitely doesn’t know about this, maybe this is why she didn’t tell Angel about them? Well, here goes, he’s pulling out the red card… “Would Molly like it if you killed me?”

Angel then proceeds to glare daggers at him. He’s hit a nerve it seems… but it is obvious that he would never intentionally hurt Molly. Just like Alexander.

“U-umm... well would she?” Alexander pulls his hair. Hopefully he’ll live passed this conversation.

“Just tell me how many times you did it and your life may be prolonged.” Angel orders and Alexander nods out of fear. Angel looks away and sips a drink he got served. Husk is probably tolerating this, maybe that’s why he hadn’t kicked them out of the bar…

“One…” Alexander pauses and Angel feels relieved thinking he's done. Sure, only once is tolerable. That’s how it should be. If he was his Pa, Alexander would have been dead by now. “Two…”

Angel zips his head over hearing that. Alexander has a red face. Wait a fucking minute… _is he counting with his fingers_?

“Three…” Alexander’s blush moves down to his neck. The heat is real… Alexander hesitantly looks over to Angel and he gulps; Angel’s eyes are wide. He’s shocked. Alexander knows that he needs to continue… otherwise Angel would choke it out of him. His voice cracks as he continues “four…?”

There is silence as Alexander tries to count. He can practically feel steam come off him, embarrassment and nervousness are not a good combination when you’re being interrogated…

Alexander hides his face behind his hair, letting out a mortified whimper. He’s dreading Angel’s response…

But there is none.

“Did you just lose count?” Husk suddenly asks and Alexander slams his head on the bar and stays there. That is a yes. Alexander peaks up at Angel, fear gripped his throat much like a pair of hands. Angel is silent and has a frozen smile. That is not a good sign…

Then, to his shock, he hears Angel laugh.

Not a regular laugh, but it's loud and it sounds normal-ish. Alexander sits up in a cautious confusion. Angel is laughing? He joins in nervously as Angel begins wiping tears.

Angel give Alexander a slap on the back.

“Ha! Buddy…” Angel pats Alexander's pat affectionately, then pulls him in by the antler, making Alexander look him in the eye “If you break my Sister's heart, I will make sure your body is found with more bullets shoved up your ass than a fucking machine gun.”

Alexander suddenly feels extremely nervous again. And a little more scared than before.

Angel lets go of him and acts all friendly again “Just a warning, there, bud. But I'll be watching, you hear?”

Alexander gives Angel a nervous nod and gulps down his urge to vocally respond. Angel winks at him and gets up, walking away as Alexander sits there in silence.

Husk then speaks up from his post “You're dead.”

Alexanders head flops his head on the bar again, letting out a moan.

He is _so_ dead.

Alexander is resting in bed. He’s with Molly in her place. Tonight was a simple night, a dinner at home, having cuddles, playing a little hanky panky, and cuddling again, but this time with less clothing.

Whenever he’s with Molly, he feels better, no matter the situation.

But this situation… this one is still bothering him. He wants to get along with Angel, not only for his sake, but for Molly’s. He doesn’t want her to feel upset about this as well.

He should tell her, but what if she gets upset? He doesn’t want her to be upset about this…

“Umm… Molly darling?” Alexander starts off and pulls his hair. Molly shifts to face him and she strokes his antlers, making his purr despite him trying to be serious. “I have something to tell you.”

“Yes?” She is listening, then gets concerned seeing Alexander become nervous.

Alexander looks away briefly, trying to figure out what to say “… I think your brother has been threatening me.”

Molly’s grip on his antler tightens slightly, but she loosens her hand and continues stroking it. She appears concerned still, but her eyes seem a little more… worried. “What?”

Alexander hesitates before continuing, explaining the best he could, but he’s confused by the way Angel does it as well. “Well, Angel found out that I'm your boyfriend and he's been threatening me… but he does it like he's flirting.”

Molly frowns and pulls him closer, sighing in what sounds like… relief? Why does she sounding relieved by this? Does she have another brother? FUCK.

She boops his nose to snap him out of it and she hugs him a little more snug. Alexander smiles, but only slightly. “What does that mean?”

“Well... he said... one time...” Alexander pulls his hair and thinks… what’s a tame one? “Your eyes are so pretty I just want to pop them out.”

“Oh no, my poor baby…” Molly moves her hands to stroke his hair for him.

“He also said…” Molly is now looking at him with more concern as he continues his example “Your antlers are… so amazing, I bet they'd look great over the fire place.”

“My poor baby…” Molly hugs him tight and Alexander hugs back “What else did he say?”

“Umm…” he takes a moment to recall before remembering one that particularly scared him “Your tattoos are amazing they sure would fit in an art museum.”

“What's so bad about that one?” Molly is confused by this, and Alexander doesn’t blame her. He was flattered by this part.

“He was holding a knife.” Alexander murmurs. He doesn’t want Molly to hear it…

“WHAT?” Molly yells and Alexander shrinks into the bed, fearing her reaction. Fuck, she heard it. She sits up and pulls him up with her. Alexander, with a pink blush on his cheeks, resists the urge to look down as she grabs his shoulders "How long has this been happening?"

“About a week…” Alexander looks away nervously when he answers.

Molly hugs him, much to his surprise, and she brushes her fingers through his hair “why didn't you tell me sooner?”

“I didn't want to make you unhappy… he's your brother…” Alexander mumbles and fiddles with his fingers. It’s the honest truth. He doesn’t want to upset her in anyway, and they’re family, he doesn’t want to ruin that.

Molly sighs and stops playing with his hair, making Alexander worry. She releases him and leans over to kiss him on the cheek and say something like “I don’t care that he's my brother, I love you and he shouldn’t be threatening you. I’ll set him straight.”

Alexander feels his blush redden and he buries his face in Molly's shoulder, responding with a muffled “I love you, Molly… I don’t deserve you…”

It is a peaceful morning.

Crymini is doing a puzzle with Vaggie, and so far this activity is keeping her busy, and it’s a Mystery Puzzle, a special kind of puzzle that shows a secret picture once you get every piece in the right place. You need a UV light though.

Alastor is nowhere to be seen.

Angel is chilling on the couch, playing with his phone and petting his piglet. Charlie had suggested to him to get a game called “Lollie Popper”, and so far he’s enjoying it.

Husk is at the bar, drinking away and doing who knows what job Alastor gave him.

Niffty is having a break from cleaning and is reading a magazine.

Charlie is walking in the Lobby, and is about to join Vaggie and Crymini before a loud voice rocks through the Hotel.

“ANGEL!”


	12. Chapter 10

“ANGEL!”

Angel falls off the couch hearing his name shrieked off the walls. He groans and sits up, seeing his sister dragging Alexander in by the hand, he looks embarrassed.

“Molly…” Alexander hides his eyes behind his hair with his free hand. Molly drags him further until she stops in front of Angel when he stands up.

“H-hey sis-” Angel manages to get out those hesitant words and everyone’s ears pick up “sis”. This is his sister? They do look alike…

“How dare you threaten my boyfriend!”

Everyone present looks to her more questionably than surprised. Alexander is dating her?

“You’ve been threatening him for a week and you didn’t think I’d find out!?” Molly yells and pulls Alexander along with her. Everyone stays silent seeing Angel shrink down in his place when Molly looms over him “I’ve told you over and over again that I will date whomever I want! You have no fucking say in this!”

“M-Molly Darling…” Alexander tries to interrupt but he whimpers loudly holding his hand. Molly’s squeezing his hand tight to the point it’s really, _really_ hurting him.

“Not now.” Molly shushes him then turns her tirade on Angel again “Honestly, Angel! I am your sister! I can protect myself! Hell- Alexander couldn’t hurt me even if he wanted to! Look at him! He looks as strong as a limp noodle!”

Alexander can only laugh pathetically at the comparison… he can’t really argue there…

“I’ve had it with you trying to control my love life! It is my decision to choose who I date and sleep with! Not yours! Not Dad’s! Not Big Brother’s! No one!” Molly scolds him and Angel leans back on the couch. Everyone else is getting those awkward feelings of the infamous second hand empathy. Most feel bad for him, but then again, they know that he deserves it. “If you ever threaten my baby again, I swear to God, Angel, I _will_ find a way to get nair in your conditioner bottles and cripple your career! I will never talk to you again!”

Angel flinches back and holds his chest at his sister’s threat. She’s really pissed off this time. He’s starting to feel bad… Molly must really love Alexander if she threats to never speak to him again. And he can’t risk that. He loves his sister…

“If he bullies you anymore, you tell me right away, okay?” Molly fixes Alexander clothing and Alexander cannot stop her even if he wanted to. Molly yelled at Angel for a good ten minutes, but now she needs to leave for work. Alexander feels a bit sympathetic for Angel, he didn’t want Molly to become mad at him, he thought that telling Molly would end up a little more peaceful. But now, Angel will stop, he can take that. She hugs him when he nods, agreeing to her request.

Alexander likes her hugs. Warm… soft… it’s so loving. Coming from Molly, every hug is like a cloud made of fairy floss and Ranunculus.

He looks over to see Angel staring at him. He’s in shock, it seems. Is getting scolded by his sister that strange to him? Must be… Molly doesn’t seem to be the one to yell so much with anger.

But, Alexander stares back. They make eye contact.

Alexander gives Angel a wicked smile.

Angel’s eyes widen. Son of a bitch did this on purpose…

Molly lets go of Alexander and gives him a smooch on the cheek, giving Alexander enough time to also give Angel a sassy wink.

“I better get going let me know if he bothers you again.” Molly pats his cheek but her tone lets him know not to go against her.

“Okay… see you around, Darling.” Alexander waves her off when she leaves.

“So…” Alexander feels awkward now hearing Vaggie’s voice. He looks over seeing her appearing confused. Along with everyone else. “What was that?”

“Well…” Alexander fiddles with his fingers before there’s a sudden boom of static.

“Fantastic! Such passion! So dramatic!” Alastor’s voice echoes and Alexander feels an arm around his shoulders. Alastor touching him like this is not what he’s used to. Alexander jumps slightly when Alastor pokes him in the chest “You know how to stir up trouble, kid.”

“Is that a compliment…?” Alexander asks quietly as Alastor lets him go and walks off to the bar where Husk is. Husk doesn’t look to bothered by the events that just occurred. Alastor, however, looks amused. Alexander tilts his head; he feels so confused.

Alexander hears a cough and looks back to Vaggie, Charlie and Crymini. They look interested.

“What do you want to know?” He asks, fully prepared for their questions.

Angel broods on the couch. He doesn’t like it when Molly’s mad at him, even we he deserves it. But he didn’t deserve the scolding!

Molly doesn’t realise that everyone in Hell is dangerous! Hell! _She’s_ dangerous!

Alexander is nothing special! He can be dangerous as well! And- Hell! I may be oblivious! But everyone else can see the connection between Alexander and that band of his! If he can hide that from us, who’s to say he can’t hide anything else?

Has he killed people? Is he a rapist? What _did_ he do to go to Hell? No one that docile can go to Hell without doing something!

Angel huffs and look over to Alexander. He’s getting interrogated by the girls. Even Niffty.

He watches as Alexander gets flustered, they’re probably asking him what I did to him, judging by the look Vaggie’s giving him.

Angel looks away from them and stirs. He needs to find a way to show Molly that Alexander’s a bad guy for her. He likes the kid and all, but he doesn’t deserve her. Sure, he can’t prove it himself _now_ , but he will!

Everyone that falls to Hell is bad. And none of them will be good enough for Molly.

But how can I prove to Molly that Alexander’s not good for her…? Should he call… no there’s no way he’ll help…

Angel looks over to the group and sees Alexander motioning to the garden awkwardly, moving away from the girls.

Alexander’s façade is masterful…

Angel may… need to call… _him_.

Later, Alexander sits at the bar, being served a drink by Husk.

Today… was a strange one.

The girls swarmed him with questions about his relationship with Molly and the drama surrounding it. Of course he defended Angel’s actions, what brother wouldn’t want to protect his sister?

Vaggie was uncharacteristically sympathetic, though. She offered to beat Angel’s arse, but he declined.

Charlie was upset, but she seemed to understand his standing.

Crymini was particularly interested in the drama, it might be a teen thing.

Niffty was a little upfront about her disappointment about him being taken. He did tell her that he was taken, but he guesses that she didn’t take it seriously. Poor girl, he feels a little bad.

“You know, if I knew this would bring a lot drama, I would have stayed quiet.” Alexander mumbles and sips his drink. Husk simply nods and drinks his booze. Alexander then feels a familiar presence nearby and he instinctively tenses up. Alexander looks to his side and forces a smile. He’s both scared for his life and scared that Angel’s never going to be civil with him again. But Angel’s smiling, no murderous aura… is he in a good mood? “Yes, Love?”

“Look, I just want to put this behind us.” Angel starts off and leans in, Alexander holds his ground nervously. Angel can be unpredictable when he wants to be… “I want to take you out.”

Alexander blinks. Then blinks again. “As in a d-?”

“No! Dude, you’re dating _my sister_!” Angel slaps his back causing Alexander to nearly spill his drink. Ha… that was silly of Alexander to assume. “I want to go out and get a drink with you, say sorry, have a few laughs, maybe even introduce you to someone.”

“Who?”

Angel had taken Alexander to a bar on the other side of the pentagram. This bar is nice, hardly any people. A real 40s vibe going on.

“Now, Alex! This is my big bro!” Angel proper Alexander in front of him to face a smaller spider with a darker complexion. He looks nothing like Angel Dust. “Alexander, Arackniss. Arackniss, Alexander.”

“Good day?” Alexander greets, attempting to be enthusiastic by offering a hand. Arackniss stares at it and Alexander nervously pulls it back out of awkwardness.

“Yeah, hi, so this is the guy dating Molls?” This guy is straight to the point. Alexander holds his hands behind his back when he looks to Angel hesitantly.

“Yeah.” His tone has an underlying hostility to it, drowned out up his optimistic happiness. Angel takes Alexander’s cheeks and pinches them, it hurts, but not by much “Look at him! So cute isn’t he?”

Arackniss looks at the two. A gay pink spider doting on the goth long haired deer that’s dating his bubbly Sister. Not a picture he ever thought he’d see. “Uhuh.”

“So…” Alexander speaks up awkwardly when he’s handed his first drink, a regular old beer. Both Spider brothers have been silent. It’s been ten minutes and all they’ve done so far is sit in silence and drink. “When did you two last talk?”

“New Years.” Angel answers and sips his cocktail, Americano Recipe Alexander thinks it’s called.

“Well…” Alexander thinks for a second “Happy New Years.”

“Last time someone told me that my uncle died and I broke my leg.” Arackniss responds while drinking his wine, it’s called a Hugo.

“…happy holidays…?” Alexnder asks nervously with a laugh. That’s not good, he’s meant to get along, he’s been horrible…

“How are you dating my sister…?” Alexander doesn’t like that tone. Is he disappointed? Does Arackniss not like him? Damn, now two of Molly’s brother don’t like the idea of him dating their sister… “You’re too sweet.”

“What?” Alexander is confused.

“What?” Angel sounds more surprised than confused.

“How has Molly not destroyed you?” Arackniss asks directly and Alexander is taken aback by it. “Destroy” can mean so many things…

“Um-um-um-um…” Alexander is confused but he’s blushing

About three beers later, Alexander is drunk and happy; no care in the world; smiling like an idiot.

Both Spiders are still sober and mentally wondering how someone can be so light weight.

“Okay, let’s get the plan rolling…” Angel mutters and leans on the counter. Finally, he can interrogate this guy. Arackniss rolls his eyes and looks on his phone, Angel assumes he’s looking up something “Now, Alex.”

Alexander looks at him, tilting his head. His eyes and both constricting and dilating, it’s quite the sight, seeing the purples changing.

“What do you think of Molly?” Angel has asked the wrong question, Arackniss face palms when Alexander lights up.

“I love Molly! She’s my Buttercup! My Pink Rose!” Alexander gushes like the happy dope he is.

He continues to gush. Both Spider Brothers look at each other. Angel smiles while Arackniss sighs.

“Let me ask the questions.” Arackniss look to Alexander and clicks his hands, Angel lets him take the lead, after all, his Brother has more experience with this. Alexander snaps out of his gush session and looks at the black Spider, tilting his head as he focused on Arackniss. “What do you think of women?”

“They scare me.”

This takes them by surprise. “Why?”

“They can smile in your face while stabbing you in the gut.” Alexander leans in for his answer and then leans back, wide eyed “It’s terrifying.”

“And you’re dating Molly?” Arackniss asks with a tone

“She scares me in a good way.” Alexander’s blush tells them all they need to know.

“I won’t ask…” Arackniss sighs and continues on with something basic. The roles of sexes “Okay, what do you think a girlfriend’s role is?”

“To love the boyfriend?” Alexander answers with a question. He sounds confused. He looks confused. He is confused.

“What’s your role in the relationship?” Arackniss presses.

“To love Molly.” Alexander smiles bright at him and Arckniss is tempted to look away at the glow.

“What was your first impression about Molly?” This is an important question. A Sober person would bullshit, a drunk person tells the truth.

Alexander pauses a moment to think, in his state it would be a few minutes, in sober world, it was a second “That she was very pretty.”

“Only pretty?” Arackniss raises an eyebrow at this. This could mean that Alexander’s shallow.

“And funny, she’s amazing.” Alexander then smiles dopily again.

“Hey, focus.” Never mind, Alexander’s clear. But Arackniss needs to press on, otherwise Angel will fuck it up. “What did you like about Molly?”

“I like everything about her. She’s my Carnation.” Alexander giggles and leans side to side.

“Yeah, focus.” Arackniss snaps his fingers and Alexander focusing on him “When did you start dating? How?”

“About… a year? I think… I don’t remember, love is a blur!” Alexander giggles “And it was love at first sight! We talked and talked then she gave me her number! I… I think we starting dating a month later?”

Arackniss and Angel look at him. Alexander is given another beer and he drinks happily. This guy’s… he’s clean.

Arackniss gives Angel a look, signalling that he’s not doing this anymore.

“My turn.” Angel speaks up and gets Alexander’s attention. The deer smiles at him. “Have been dating any other women.”

In a drunken state, Alexander responds with a series of hiccups and giggles “I have many friends who are girls.”

Angel looks hopeful thinking he finally might have struck gold. This is what he needs. Alexander is a player! He looks to Arackniss excitedly, but his brother is holding up a finger. He points to Alexander.

“But…” Alexander pauses and drinks the rest of his fourth glass, he sighs when he’s finished. He smiles dopily at Angel and hiccups “Only one of them is my girlfriend.”

Alexander then proceeds to compare Molly to various pink and white flowers, like a fucking dork.

Now, that was cute, but not what Angel is looking for.

“I give up…” Angel leans down on the counter, Alexander stops his fanboying and copies Angel’s body posture, totally confused. Alexander reaches over as rubs Angel’s back in an attempt to make him better.

“Who knew that this soft guy was loyal to our sister?” Arackniss speaks sarcastically, Angel gives him a slight glare when he sits up.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Angel curses under his breath. Molly’s here.

“Hey, sis.” Arackniss greets nonchalantly as Molly hurries over to Alexander.

“I’ll get to you later!” Molly yells then she quiets down to pull Alexander up and hugs him. Alexander giggles and hugs back, mumbling things about clouds and flowers. Molly takes his face in her face and worries “Oh, my poor baby! How many did they give you?”

“Four.” Angel answers and holds his head down. Molly’s going to be so mad with him…

“Four?” Molly is confused by this but hugs Alexander tighter nonetheless. “Are you okay, Baby?”

“Yeah…” Alexander giggles out and hiccups, Molly smiles at how cute it he is. “And we had a fun time! Talking!”

“Talking about what?” Molly lets him go and holds him up.

“Flowers.”

“Oh really?” Molly looks to her brothers. Arackniss waves while Angel fiddles with his fingers. She turns to them and keeps a hand on her boyfriend, petting his ears to keep him happy. “What were you thinking?”

“How did you even find us?!” Angle bursts out. That’s what he wants to know. How did Molly find them! They’re on the other side of the pentagram!

“Arackniss texted me. He said you were interrogating Alexander.” Molly informs and both look to their older brother, he shrugs. “Which reminds me. Why would you agree to this?! I expect this from Angel, but not you!”

“I wanted to meet your boyfriend.” Arackniss sips his Hugo and watches Molly slowly start to lose more cool.

“And you…” Molly turns her full attention on Angel. Her hand keeps rubbing Alexander’s ear to keep him still, but he’s slowly leaning into it. He’s also looking up at Molly dreamily as she speaks with Angel. “Alexander’s not like everyone else in Hell! Look at him! He’s a fucking light weight! He has no secrets! What makes you think he is bad for me?!”

“He-” Angel attempts to get out but Molly’s glare keeps him quiet. He does have genuine concerns; he just wants to keep her safe.

“No! Don’t say a word!” Molly sighs agitated and holds her forehead. Then she can’t feel Alexander. Both her brothers are looking at the ground and she frowns. She looks down and sees Alexander on the floor, holding the back of his head. She apologises to him as she pulls him back up and sits him back on the chair. She kisses his cheek and he stays quiet. She looks at to her brothers and sees them looking at her boyfriend with confusion, she points to the area in front of her “In front of me.”

“Why?” Arackniss raises an eyebrow, but he and Angel do it anyway.

“Apologise to him.” Molly holds Alexander up when he nearly falls again. She’s over this. Sure, getting Alexander drunk isn’t a big deal, but interrogating him… Molly doesn’t understand this…

“I’m sorry, Alexander, you seem like a good person.” Arackniss offers a hand and Alexander smiles and takes it. They shake a few times and Alexander is happy.

“Sorry…” Angel crosses his arms. He’s not really sorry… he doesn’t want Alexander to date his Sister. He still has this… feeling about him. Molly gives him “the look” and Angel huffs “I won’t do this again, okay? I’m sorry, Alex.”

“It’s okay, Angel, I still love you.” Alexander giggles and Angel smiles a bit at how cute his response is.

After that fiasco, Molly had taken up the job of taking Alexander back home.

This should have been a whole lot easier than it is.

“I love you, Molly!” Alexander yells and stumbles behind her. Demons around are giving him strange looks and appear annoyed.

“I know, babe.” Molly pulls him along. She doesn’t want him pissing someone off. Alexander yells out his love again and Molly pulls him in front of her and pulls his collar down to kiss him on the lips. Alexander is dazed when she pulls away. She then continues walking him back home “Stay quiet, okay? We’re nearly home.”

It seemed to work. Alexander stays quiet for the next few minutes before he laughs out “My Molly loves me!”

Molly pulls him in for a kiss again and shushes him when she pulls away “quiet. I need you to be good, okay?”

Alexander nods and they continue walking. Aside from him stumbling, Molly finds this easier. Then Alexander pulls her back and spins her around laughing.

“Alexander!” Molly stops him spinning her and crosses her arms while he looks down at her confused.

“Are you going to kiss me again?” Alexander asks eagerly and Molly now realises that she probably should have chosen a different way to shut him up. She’s suddenly lifted up and her neck is kissed a few times. She’s starting to feel flushed. “I love my Molly! And she loves me!”

Molly is places down and she gives up. She pulls him in an alleyway and thinks they might as well have a quick make out session before going back to the Tavern.

It’s passed closing time and the Tavern is clean. The band is sitting at the bar drinking with their boss. Alexander hadn’t returned yet, which is worrying them a bit, but they’re not that worried. If something was wrong, someone would have told them.

The doors slam open. A flustered Molly pulls in a very happy and wasted Alexander. Both appear a little dishevelled, which concerns them.

Alexander tips over and Molly holds him up.

Brandon speaks up first “What the fuck happened to him?!”

“My Brothers.” Molly answers, dead, straight to the point. She’s almost done with Alexander’s shit. Alexander stands straight and her leans down to kiss Molly’s cheek. She sighs and kisses him back. She can’t blame him for his affection.

“Uh oh.” Jackson sips his drink, waiting.

“Uh oh? Wh-!?” Molly is lifted up and kissed on the lips. Alexander hugs her when he pulls back and nuzzles into her neck. Molly sighs and pats his head as he enjoys this affection.

“Okay, Babe, we’re here.” Molly opens his door and he stumbles inside. Molly comes in and shuts the door. She’s smiling. Alexander is interesting, that’s for sure…

“Molly…” Alexander whines and she looks up to see him behind her “Let’s go to bed.”

“Yeah, sure.” Molly goes with it. Alexander gently pulls her and pushes her on his bed. She laughs as he tries to balance himself when he crawls on top of her, it’s cute. Then she feels pressure on her chest. Molly looks down and sees Alexander passed out on her fluff. She smiles and pets his back as he snores softly. “I love you…”

She hears a small chatter and looks off to the side when there’s a flutter of feathers in the air. Oli suddenly appears on Alexander’s back.

Molly watches as the Raven hops closer to her and she giggles. “Hello again.”

Oli drops in response and clicks as he hops on Alexander’s antlers. He ruffles his feathers and perches to sleep. Molly smiles at how adorable he is, just like her boyfriend.


	13. Chapter 11

“Ow…”

“Come on, you can survive this.” Molly fixes up Alexander’s outfit. He apparently slept on her when she took him back home. He apologised, but she waved him off.

Today, his boss is letting him work solely at the Hotel today since, in his words, “A worker that complains about a hangover that was caused by four beers shouldn’t work the next day.” And Alexander is both thankful and a little bit offended. But, he has no say in this matter, if Boss doesn’t want him working, then he’s not working today.

“I’ll be working today, so you spend the day easy, okay?” Molly asks and gives him a peck on the cheek. Alexander smiles and nods. She takes her leave out of his room and Alexander thinks of what he could do for the Hotel’s garden.

The ticking from his clock is annoying him.

The garden’s black vines of that fucking tree need to be tamed again.

Every tick and tock is etching it’s way further in his ears and it’s making his body shake.

The butterfly section needs more variety in soil composure, more silt and sand for the roots-

That goddamn clock!

Oli coos and lands on his antlers. Alexander is distracted by his raven’s appearance and he’s grateful. He reaches up and sighs as he scritches Oli’s head “Thanks, bud…”

The ticking continues… it sounds so loud.

Alexander turns his attention to the clock.

He stalks over to it.

He rips it off his bed side table and goes to throw it to the wall. He stops himself to check the time

9:00am.

Fuck, he’s late.

Alexander hurries out his room, he races to the door and stops himself as he pats his pockets. Tools!

“Uh, Alex?” Jackson pipes up seeing Alexander search the bar, he’s cleaning glasses. Alexander finds his bag and hops the bar, Jackson leans on the counter watching him run “Alex! You have-!”

“No time! I’m late!” Alexander opens the door and calls out “I’ll take care of it later!”

The door slams and Jackson continues cleaning the cups in his care.

“You think he’ll notice?” The Landlord asks and Jackson sighs, shaking his head as his answer.

“I’m here.” Alexander sighs as he walks in the lobby. He stretches his legs back and yawns to wake himself up. During his run his headache only just went away, so he’s in a better mood.

He trots over to the couch to couch to wait for Charlie, he didn’t even need to wait long before he hears her footsteps come closer.

He turns to greet her, only to see her staring up. Alexander waves and Charlie looks into his eyes. She seems to snap out of what trance she was in.

“Sorry, hi, Alexander.” Charlie greets but look back up. Alexander is confused by this “Why is there a bird sitting on your head.”

Alexander tilts his head then feels a weight shift on his antlers.

Oh…

Alexander walks off to the side to where he knows a mirror is at. Charlie follows him and is by his side when he looks in the wall mirror.

His reflection is normal, but Oli’s on his antlers.

Oli chatters and walks on his antlers while Alexander smiles. Oli opens his wings and caws, as if to say “ta-da!”.

“Well look who decided to hitch a ride.” Alexander gives small laugh when Oli starts his equivalent of a laugh, Alexander mocks the sound.

Alexander has Oli on his fingers when Charlie went off to get everyone off. He forgot that people like seeing pets, be it dogs, cats, or birds, everyone loves cute things.

“Hey, Oli, you ready to meet everyone, you wanna meet my friends?” Alexander gets Oli’s head a few scritches when the Bird hoots and bops his head. Alexander hears footsteps and sees Vaggie walking in the lobby, Oli sees her as well and crows. Vaggie is taken aback at the sight of the bird “Oli, this is Vaggie. Vaggie, this is my raven, Oli.”

“Why…?” Vaggie asks as she gets closer, Oli opens his wings and caws loudly. Alexander smiles and Vaggie is a little hesitant.

“I got everyone else!” Charlie suddenly appears and, true to her word, the rest of the gang comes in. Husk immediately goes to the bar, Niffty is hopping, Angel isn’t exactly ecstatic, and Alastor is smiling. Alexander holds up Oli to let the bird see everyone and immediately Oli flaps his wings and coos. “See, look! He’s so cute!”

“You gathered us because of a bird?” Angel asks and he flinches back when Oli flies towards him, but he lands on Charlie’s head. Angel raises an eyebrow when the deep blue eyes of Oli piece into his soul. He shivers.

“Oh, he likes you, Love.” Alexander comes stays in place, it’s strange seeing Oli getting along with Charlie, usually it takes a while for him to warm up to someone else. Charlie giggles and reaches up and Oli leans on her hand, cooing.

“What a pretty bird!” Alastor announces loudly and Oli hisses at him. Charlie winces when he takes off and flies to Alexander. Oli perches on Alexander’s antlers and hisses at Alastor.

“Oli doesn’t like it when people are loud…” Alexander explains and holds his head. His headache is coming back. He reaches up to give Oli scritches and Oli leans in cooing, but when Alastor gets closer, Oli shrieks. Alexander holds in a groan.

This will be a _fun_ day.

Oli flies off somewhere and Alexander sighs.

“I’ll begin working, Oli’s probably going to chill inside.” He looks to Charlie, he might as well explain “Oli’s an inside bird, but that doesn’t mean he won’t try to fly outside. Could you keep an eye on him please?”

“Of course! We can do that!” Charlie agrees and Alexander salutes her, she salutes back.

Charlie looks to Alastor who appears to be happier than usual. Maybe he likes birds? Then she tries to find Oli.

She can’t see him.

Husk can tolerate a lot of things.

He can tolerate drunk idiots.

He can tolerate rookies in Poker.

He can even tolerate Alastor.

But this… this is hard to tolerate.

Husk looks to his open wing and sees the Raven grooming his him. The Bird had flown up to him, got some scritches, then started grooming Husk’s wing.

Husk jolts slightly when Oli plucks a feather and he hisses at him. Oli pauses and looks at him, then goes straight back to grooming.

“Fuck off.” Husk swats at Oli but he hops to the other wing to groom that one. Husk hisses and swats again, flapping his wings to get Oli off. He stops and Oli perches on his hat instead. Husk swats at him again but Oli lands on his wing again to continue grooming, he flies to the other wing when Husk hisses “I said Fuck off!”

“Fuck off.” Oli repeats.

Hearing the Husk-like voice repeat the Cat, Alexander – from his walk to get tools and to find Charlie – overhears this and stops dead in his tracks.

“Husk.” Alexander slowly turns his head to the cat and there’s a sudden chill in the air “Did he just say what I thought he just said…?”

Charlie walks in with some papers, she’s confused to what is happening.

“No.”

“Fuck off.” Oli repeats again and Charlie gasps at the language.

“HUSK!” Alexander then proceeds to nearly punch Husk if Charlie hasn’t rushed over to hold him back, slowing pulling him away while Husk opens his wings in defence mode.

Oli flies off.

Vaggie watches Oli as he flies around, she’s sitting on the stairs and reading. Charlie had left to do some work and this has left Vaggie with the unspoken chore of watching Oli.

Oli lands next to her on the same stair. She looks at him as he hops closer, clicking curiously and tilting his head side to side. He coos and throws his head down.

Vaggie watches the strange display before Oli rubs his head on her leg. She reaches down and gives him some scritches. Oli coos and leans in as she continues.

Vaggie turns her attention back to her book. Oli hops on her thigh and coos, her response is to put out a hand and continue reading. Oli drops a few times and accepts this.

For a few seconds.

Oli flaps his wings and lies up onto Vaggie’s head. She doesn’t react, so he pulls out her bow. Vaggie puts her book down and waves a hand at him to get him to stop.

Oli then swoops and snatches the book she was reading.

“Hey!” Vaggie tries to catch him but he’s flying up too high for her. So she resorts to chasing him around the hotel.

Oli is hitching a ride on Niffty as she cleans, he’s picking at her hair and perching comfortably as he grooms himself.

Niffty then spots a black feather floating to the ground. She picks it up then sees another. She collects four before realising that Oli is plucking his feathers to groom himself. He’s moulting.

Oli coos and flies off, he drops a few more feather and Niffty follows him to collect them.

Later, Niffty is sitting on the couch, sewing a little black sweater. She cuts off the thread and sets her tools on the coffee table. He holds up the sweater and marvels at it.

It is made to fit her. A black wool with feathers sewn in the chest and shoulder areas. She sewn in some white wool and thread to emphasise the feathers, and sequins over the base of each feather.

“What is this you’ve made?” Alastor appears behind Niffty’s seat and she holds up the sweater for him to see. He tilts his head curiously seeing the feathers. “How did you manage these?”

“Oli’s moulting.” Niffty puts on the sweater and hops up to pirouette. Alastor smiles down at her, a bit of jealously seen in his eyes.

Oli coos when he sees a small body running around in the halls. Squeals are heard as he walks over.

A small piglet runs up to him and starts sniffing him, Oli drops a few times and opens his wings when the piglet sniffs his head.

“Fat Nuggets? What’s up?” Angel comes out of a room and he sees the piglet exploring Oli. Oli flaps his wings to get him on Fat Nuggets’ back. Angel kneels down when Fat Nuggets continues to run around but with the Raven on his back. “You’re Alex’s bird. Whatcha doing?”

Oli and Fat Nuggets look at him before continuing their play. Oli opens his wings as the Piglet runs. Then Fat Nuggets trip.

Both fall on their backs and Angel laughs softly while taking out his phone. That was cute.

Fat Nuggets oinks loudly while rolling on his tummy, Oli copies the noise and rolls over as well to follow the Piglet. Oli pulls Fat Nuggets’ tail and the Piglet jumps and squeals, Oli runs off and Fat Nuggets chases him.

Angel sits down and watches as the two chase each other. It’s cute. Strange, but cute.

Then the hopping begins and Angel coos when both hop after each other.

Crymini is bored.

She woke up late today and all the rest are working on something important, leaving her out of everything. Sure, sleeping in might have done something, but it’s lonely.

Charlie’s working on Paperwork, and Vaggie’s helping by reading some boring book.

Angel Dust won’t hang out with her because of something he won’t tell her.

Husk is sleeping.

Alastor… no.

Niffty is busy cleaning.

And, Alexander is in the garden. She would help out or watch, but the Black vine thing is scary.

Crymini growls while gnawing on a stick and tries to think of something to do.

She could blast music?

No, Alastor doesn’t like loud music… not since April.

TV?

There’s nothing interesting on…

Do explor- no…

Crymini throws the stick across the room, groaning loud. There’s nothing to do!

Crymini throws her head back on the couch and groans again. Maybe if she’s loud enough someone will come over?

Her ears perk up hearing fluffling of feathers. She jolts when the stick is dropped in her lap.

She sits back up and looks around confused. Oli suddenly appears beside her and she jumps.

Oli tilts his head, cooing and dropping, staring into Crymini’s eyes.

Crymini is kind of creeped out, but she throws the stick away. Oli flaps his wings as he goes to get it. Crymini watches as he picks it up and carries it back to her.

Crymini is give the stick and her tail wags. She has something to do now.

Oli is sitting on the bar and content with his water. Alexander had given a little flat bowl when Oli attempted to drink from Husk’s bottle.

He’s very content.

Then he’s not.

Alastor suddenly manifests at the bar and Oli stares at him, silent.

“Here, pretty bird.” Alastor gently places a small plate of cubed meat in front of Oli. Oli stands up and hops closer to it, tilting his head. He hops on the plate and flaps his wings when Alastor sits closer to him. Oli stares at him then quickly snatches a cube and hops away. Alastor watches as Oli gets loser again when he finishes said cube, he smiles wider when Oli eats on the plate and stays by him. Alastor puts a hand near him and Oli hops on it to eat the cubes.

“Alastor?” Oli suddenly gets shook and hops away. Alastor stays silent when Charlie sits next to him. He was so close. “What were you doing?”

“Trying to get Oli to like me.” Alastor answers a little disappointed. He puts his elbow on the counter and holds his face.

Charlie sits next to Alastor and smiles apologetically. She puts her paperwork on the counter and starts reading.

Oli chatters and gets closer slightly. He’s staring at Charlie’s hair. He hops over fast and jumps on her arm. Charlie watches as he walks on her arm and climbs himself up on her shoulder.

Alastor looks over and sees this. Now Oli’s just picking favourites.

Charlie gives Oli some scritches. So far, it seems that Charlie is the only one, other than Alexander, that Oli has willingly landed on. He’s a really cuddly bird, so much so that he’s distracting her from her work.

“Goddamn it!” Husk is heard yelling from the garden, along with Alexander’s yells mixing in. They’re most likely working on the black vines.

“I don’t want him copying Husk again…” Charlie gets Oli to step up on her fingers and she coos and opens his wings and she puts him on her head. Charlie gets back to her paper work, feeling Oli playing with her hair. She only gets a few seconds in when Oli falls off her head to roll on her shoulder, he gives her a little kiss and makes the sounds as well.

“I doubt he will.” Alastor replies and watches as Oli kisses Charlie. That Hint of Jealously is becoming a huge clue. He reaches a hand up to Oli, attempting a step up “Pretty bird.”

Oli hisses.

“I don’t think Oli likes you much, Al.” Charlie smiles a little awkwardly while Alastor continues to hold a hand up for Oli. The raven stays silent and steps away, Alastor gives up and puts his hand down “You really like him, don’t you?”

“Ravens are a significant bird in my… culture.” Alastor explains a little mysteriously but he holds a hand up again, Oli hops on it then hops off to pull Charlie’s hair.

“Maybe this will work…” Charlie holds her forearm up and Oli slowly makes his way to perch on it, slipping and climbing on Charlie’s hair and jacket. Oli walks around on her arm and Charlie motions Alastor to walk around her. Oli stops walking and stares at Alastor. Both are silent with awe.

Alastor lifts his hand to pet Oli’s head and Oli suddenly shrieks “FUCK OFF!”

Charlie and Alastor flinch back at how loud he is. Oli flies off and there’s a silence. Alastor appears hurt despite his smile. Charlie feels bad for him.

“HUSK, I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU TEACH MY BIRD ANYTHING ELSE, I’LL CASTRATE YOU WITH A BROKEN BEER BOTTLE!” Alexander is heard yelling in the background.

Both Alastor and Charlie can also hear someone possibly dying of laughter from some other part of the hotel.

“Oli!” Alexander calls out and whistles. His shift is over and he needs to find Oli. Thank god his headache went away, but he’s starting to get it back because he can’t find his fucking bird! “Oli! We need to go home!”

Oli is heard cawing somewhere in the lobby and Alexander walks around whistling. He feels a weight on his antlers and sighs relieved when he hears Oli’s drops and coos.

Then Oli hisses.

Alexander holds in a wince when he hears static.

“Ah, there you are!” Alastor appears out of nowhere and Alexander puts on a smile to be polite. He notices Alastor looking up at Oli fondly. They make eye contact and Alexander feels a bit nervous “I was wondering if I could ask of you a favour, my friend.”

“So, what you want to do is stay still.” Alexander has Alastor’s forearm up and he has Oli on his fingers. Oli has stayed quiet so far so Alexander gently places him on Alastor’s sleeve “He doesn’t like loud people, so you’re going to have to stay quiet so he doesn’t fly to me.”

Alastor is smiling, a happy smile, he’s beaming, so bright that Alexander is getting concerned. Alexander has no idea what he’s thinking, but as long as it’s not about eating him or Oli, Alexander’s not complaining. It might be an Alastor thing.

“Okay, Oli, you feeling good?” Oli turns around on Alastor’s arm and perch. Oli opens his wings and ruffles them, Alastor’s body language appears to be calm but the Radio Demon’s eyes… his pupils are bigger and it’s starting to creep Alexander out. Alexander decides to just roll with it now “Want him to dance?”

In the background, Charlie is watching and she finds the entire situation adorable. At least her friends are getting along now.

“Dance?” Alastor tilts his head curiously and tilts it to the other side when Alexander bobs his head up and down. Oli copies and whistles. Alastor laughs silently and Oli begins shaking his head from side to side and flapping his wings.

Charlie holds her mouth at the cuteness, literal stars in her eyes.

Oli calms down and chatters a bit while Alexander puts some hair back. Alastor is very happy.

“Fuck this.” Oli mumbles and Alexander freezes.

Alastor looks at him, unbothered this time, and watches as he attempts to punch Husk again. Charlie holds him back and Alastor looks to Oli who is dropping and chattering on his arm. He’s gotten what he wanted, he’s not upset at all.

“He’s such a pretty bird!” Alastor’s sudden compliment spooked Oli to the point he retreats to Alexanders antlers.

Oli drops a few times and perches. He’s had enough.

“I think that's enough fun for today.” Alexander decides and waves at Alastor as he begins his way out. He feels Oli walk on his antlers as he wlaks to the door.

Alastor looks a little distraught when he pops out of nowhere in front of Alexanser “Will you bring him again?”

“Probably not…” Alexander Rubs his neck and pauses hearing a lot of static. He doesn’t need to look at Alastor when he sees a lot of green light around them both.

“Are you sure?” Alastor asks and instantly the green lights disappear.

“I can bring him again, sure.”


	14. Due to Illness

Due to a sudden wave of Illness, I will not be able to update the chapters for some time.

It is not corona but it is something significant.


	15. Illness mostly gone!

Thank you for waiting!

My illness is mainly gone, so I'll get back on track, expect an update to the story soon!

I haven't been able to write as much as I wanted to during this time, so not everything's done, but thanks for waiting, and I'll get back to you all soon.

Oh, and before I forget, I have news. The Boss, Reddit User Thebrutalistboi, had posted character profiles! I helped draw them before I got sick, if anyone was wondering, but here are the links, maybe copy and paste? You guys are smart, you can figure it out.

Richard

r/Hazbincharacter/comments/g37zok/my_oc_richard_aka_dickhead_drawn_by/

Jackson

r/Hazbincharacter/comments/g382i5/my_oc_jackson_drawn_by_uindigokookaburra/

Brandon

r/Hazbincharacter/comments/g385yr/my_oc_brandon_aka_the_goodest_boi_drawn_by/

Sam

r/HazbinHotelFanart/comments/g6fqic/my_oc_sam_drawn_by_uindigokookaburra/

r/HazbinHotelFanart/comments/g6fycs/my_oc_sam_with_a_pony_tail_drawn_by/

Hector

r/Hazbincharacter/comments/g715rw/my_oc_hector_drawn_by_uindigokookaburra/

r/Hazbincharacter/comments/g718m0/another_picture_of_my_oc_hector_drawn_by/

Alexander is coming soon, I'm stuck on his tattoos.

But, in other news, there's another Reddit User that has drawn some fanart. Reddit User MidnightMonster124 drew both Alexander and Jackson digitally, which I think is cool.

r/HazbinFanFics/comments/g53b4z/i_drew_fan_art_of_the_main_character_of_the/

r/HazbinFanFics/comments/g5c6y1/i_did_more_fan_art_for_the_fanfic_every_rose_has/


	16. Chapter 12

Charlie is preparing the living room. She had some popcorn on the coffee table and she has enough couch and lounge chair space for everyone to huddle around the TV.

Alexander had told her some interesting news a few days ago, and Charlie was happy for him despite him not looking forward to it at all.

She’s supportive and she wants him to have fun with this advertisement he’s doing.

“Charlie, I got them.” Charlie smiles at her girlfriend and at everyone else when they file in.

Husk immediately takes the lounge chair with the table beside it. Angel and Niffty sit beside each other on a couch. Alastor stands beside Niffty, Charlie guesses he doesn’t want to sit down. Charlie and Vaggie sit on the loveseat together.

“So, what’s Alexander done to get on the News?” Angel asks while Charlie pops the TV on for the News Channel. He’s not really interested, but if it’s something bad, at least he’ll have dirt on him.

“I don’t know, he just said he’s going on the news.” Charlie responds and the intro to the news begins. It showcases a song that’s currently playing by the Rose of Blasphemy, full swing.

Alexander’s not in a good mood. For one, he’s on a news channel and his nerves are getting him. Two, it’s the 666 News. After what happened to Charlie a few months ago, he has a stronger distaste towards Katie Killjoy.

Currently, he and his mates are performing a song called 666, by I killed the Prom Queen, just for the Channel. It’s a good song, but the fact that he’s only singing for this crappy channel irks him.

But at least there’s a crowd of fans in front of him. Somewhere along the line, producers decided to sell tickets for a live show at the studio, apparently it went well because the studio is filled with fans now.

“Every living thing on this earth dies alone, dies alone. This phrase never sounded so sweet to my ears.” Alexander growls in the microphone, looking out into the crows at the base signals his cue to pause for two seconds. The audience is loving this. Alexand leans into the microphone, a smile on his face. Even if he is annoyed, this is still fun “With reason enough to curse the earth you walk from, those final encounters stuck… stuck in my mind.”

Brandon growls with him the next line.

“The scent of abhorrence still lingers.” Brandon goes back to his guitar, leaving Alexander to continue on “Part your exit this moment is only married… by thoughts of your presence.”

The Crowd is loving it. Once the drums and guitars overpower Alexander’s voice, he hops in front of some fans to hype them up, yelling for them scream louder. Typical hyping up to please the crowd, Alexander finds this fun.

Alexander then realises how close it is for him to growl again so he climbs himself back up on stage, swinging his microphone as he gets himself ready. He gives a small strangles yell into the microphone before the instrumental finishes off.

“I curse your name and the earth you’re walking on!” Alexander’s voice is a bit louder than before, but whatever it takes to have fun. Brandon leans on him to butt in his singing, still playing away on his bass.

“Everything living on this earth dies alone…” Brandon growls into the microphone and Alexander laughs maniacally before they both growl in together “Everything living on this earth dies alone…”

“Everything living on this earth dies alone…” Alexander takes the lead this time and Brandon goes his own way to continue his thing “everything living on this earth dies alone…”

There’s a brief instrumental and Alexander gets lost in his thought during this time. After this, they’re meant to sit down and get interviewed. He wants to get out of there before that happens, but of course, he has no choice but to go forward with it. It’s for the tavern.

Alexander takes his cue and continues performing.

_Two weeks ago, Alexander’s Boss had gathered the entire band, right after the concert ended._

_“Good, great performance boys.” He complimented while he watches them recuperate. Alexander is holding his throat. Hector, Sam and Brandon are all trying to ease the pain in their fingers. Jackson’s rolling his wrists. They played more songs than usual this night to make up for the lack of audience. It took a strain on all of them. “We’re not performing next fortnight-”_

_“What?!”_

_“Why?!”_

_“We’re not fired, right!?”_

_“Calm your tits, and let me finish!” The Landlord yells and all to them pipe down from the shock. He sighs and puts on a smile “Because I booked you to perform on a well-known channel.”_

_It takes a few seconds for the band to compute what he just said._

_“Really?!” Jackson asks loudly and soon Sam follows suit in his excitement, hollering and jumping around._

_Hector and Alexander are smiling and dancing around with each other in some silence._

_“How did you manage that?” Brandon asks in a strangely calm astonishment, but his tail is wagging, so it’s obvious that he’s happy._

_“The producers are fans.” Their Boss explains and lets the boys celebrate in their own way. He pulls up a piece of paper and shows them. It’s a time schedule. “You’re going to perform then get interviewed.”_

_“Interviewed?” Alexander asks with an edgy voice. He’s still recuperating. He looks over to see the paper more clearly and his face drops. 666 News._

_“You boys need more popularity.” Their Landlord states and puts the paper away._

_“Yeah, we know.” Hector pipes up and Alexander flinches away when he hears him. “And this is perfect. Everyone watches the news.”_

_“Exactly.”_

_Alexander stays quiet. He doesn’t want to spoil the fun, no matter how much he’s not looking forward to this. He can only imagine the amount of bullshit he’ll have to tolerate._

Charlie cannot say her opinion on the song the Rose of Blasphemy is playing, but can voice her reaction with one word “Wow…”

“This is irritating…” Alastor is greatly annoyed.

“Then you can leave, no one’s forcin’ you to be here, Smiles.” Angel retorts and watches the performance.

“Why are you watching the news?” Crymini enters the living room and she gasps seeing the Rose of Blasphemy on the TV. She hops the couch to sit and watch, giddy and a little hoppy “I thought you guys didn’t like them! Oh my god! This is great!”

“We don’t really like the genre, but we support Alexander’s passion nonetheless.” Vaggie informs from her seat and Crymini looks at her confused.

“What about Alex?” Crymini looks to the screen when the camera focuses slightly on the Deer of the band. Her jaw drops. “Tha-that’s Alex?”

“Yeah.” Husk confirms and huffs when his bottle is empty.

“How did I not notice?!” Crymini yells and jumps up, hopping on the spot, tail wagging wildly.

“Dude, it took us months to notice.” Angel watches as Crymini has a happy fit.

“But it's obvious!” She whines and flops back on the couch.

When the song ends, Alexander holds his throat. He sure loves performing, but he’s been straining his throat lately, and that’s not good.

His mates pack up their instruments while he waves to the crowd. He’s suddenly approached by a crewmember offering water, he smiles and nods to them in thanks as he sips the cup of water.

The Stage Audience applauds while the crowd thins out of the studio, and Alexander is sad to see them go.

“And that was 666 by I killed the Prom Queen, performed by the infamous Rose of Blasphemy!” Alexander’s mood goes sour when he hears Katie’s voice.

“Come on, Alex, this is for the Tavern.” Alexander’s grabbed by the antlers and pulls over to the band’s designated seats. Alexander huffs when he’s let go and he gives Brandon an irritate look.

Alexander sits at his seat and he sips his water. Katie is sitting directly in front of him. He does not like this.

“For those just tuning in, welcome to a very special segment of the 666 News!” Katie announces and Alexander holds his tongue. He has a lot to say about her fake attitude. It’s disgusting, to make everything simple. “I’m Katie Killjoy!”

“And I’m Tom Trench!” Tom introduces himself. Alexander likes Tom more than Katie. At least he tries to be a normal host. Bug Bitch is just an attention whore. “And here we have today is the one and only Rose of Blasphemy!”

Lights point to them and Alexander waves along with his mates. Usually in the spot light, he’d be happy, but not today.

“Is it me or is Alex lookin’ a bit pissy?” Angel asks as he throws some popcorn in his mouth.

“Yeah…” Charlie’s wondering what’s wrong. Alexander had said he wasn’t looking forward to this, but she never got the chance to find out why.

So, she’s wondering what’s wrong. He looked like he was having fun singing with Brandon and playing around on stage, but what changed? Is there something behind the scene she’s not aware of?

“I can’t imagine _why_ he would dislike being on the news.” Vaggie states sarcastically and Charlie sees Alexander glaring slightly at Katie. It makes sense now.

Alexander snaps out of his brooding when Jackson gives him a little punch in the shoulder. He straightens his back and pays attention “Yes? What is it?”

“She asked you a question?” Jackson motions to Katie and Alexander frowns. He was expecting something important.

“How do you execute your voice when you sing? You don’t miss a beat and you don’t mess up your appearance when you perform.” This question is something he didn’t expect, but he assumes that she’s sucking up to him.

“Well, I don’t raise my voice just before I snap my neck and punch a guest, for one. That’s just common sense.” Slight laughter from the audience. He's referring to the Princess' interview. His mates look at him confused while Katie pauses to stare. “And for two, I don't spend my time getting ready, I just do it."

“I see.” Katie is clicking her pen, but she keeps her cool. Alexander senses that this interview will end badly.

Angel laughs “Did he just…?”

“Oh no…” Vaggie holds her nose. If there was a God, he’s giving her all the stress she has right at this moment, seeing Alexander about to cause a scene. She doesn’t need another News Disaster.

“Oh, yes darling.” Alastor says with his Cheshire grin. This will be very entertaining.

“When you're on stage, you sometimes give fans your shirt, and I was wondering if you would do that for us today.” Katie requests, completely ignoring Alexander’s comment on her. Tom sighs in the background. Alexander guesses that he too knows that this will end in disaster.

“I'm not taking off my shirt in the studio.” Alexander sips his water and gives her a stern look

“What's the difference between the stage and Studio?” Katie questions as she taps her pen on the desk. Alexander can tell that she’s getting annoyed.

“The Stage has the warmth of song, this Studio has your dead heart giving off cold.” Alexander drinks and the Audience “ooooo”s in the background. His mates are looking at him confused, probably thinking why the hell is he’s acting out. Katie clicks away at her pen while Tom stays silent.

“Well, he has a point." Brandon gives him credit but he's giving Alexander a look. Alexander knows that he doesn’t want him to cause scene. He can’t make promises though.

“Damn.” Crymini smiles and leans in, eating popcorn in anticipation.

“He must really be in a bad mood.” Niffty comments.

Charlie can only hope that Alexander keeps his cool.

“Now, Alexander, I have asked your band mates this, but you weren’t paying attention, so I must ask.” Tom gets Alexander's attention and he appears less angry, almost cute when he looks at Tom with widish purple eyes, but he's basically less angry. Everyone takes this as a sign. “Your hair style. I've noticed that you never change in, even when seasons change. Why?”

“Well…” Alexander sips and thinks. Why doesn’t he change his hair? Aside from it growing back all the time, why not put in in a ponytail? Alexander’s peripheral vision picks up Katie looking a little annoyed. Alexander guesses that she doesn’t like him now, or is sulking that the attention isn’t on her. He shrugs and decides to answer Tom’s question with a simple answer “I just like this hair style, I've had it since I was alive. The purple is something I can't get rid of, you know? It's just there.”

“Ah, that makes sense, thank you.” Tom nods. That was a good answer. Alexander side glances at his mates; they appear calmer.

“But you know, you can do with a haircut every now and then.” Katie interjects and Alexander looks like he's angry again. He feels angry, too.

But he smiles “yeah, I think you could do with a haircut as well, love. A One Mil might suit you well, seeing you're a bug demon.”

Sam holds in a laugh but ends up wheezing. Jackson shakes his head with a smile. Brandon just smiles. Hector stays silent but he's holding his mouth, one can only imagine if he’s smiling as well.

“One Mil?” Katie is confused by this, but she doesn’t like the smiles on everyone’s faces and Sam’s loud wheezing of laughter.

“One millimetre.” Alexander elaborates and his eyes now focus on the pen.

“Oh…” Katie clicks her pen. It must be really hard keep in all that cool when someone’s coming at you. It’s almost as if Katie’s not used to being picked on. Alexander guesses that’s going to change.

“You know love, I'm a little concerned with your obsession with you pen.” Alexander comments as he watches Katie click away at her pen. It’s a genuine concern. Why is she clicking away all the time? Is the pen something important?

“What?” Katie is confused by this, but her strained smile shows everyone that she knows that something is coming. Everyone else is waiting as well.

“I mean, is it a stress thing? Are you overly attached to it or something? It is a button for something?” Alexander smiles mischievously “I mean, is it like a Pavlov thing? The more you hear that annoying click, the more you try to hold in your shallow personality? Or is it a control for… something?”

“Alex…” Jackson holds his face. What has gotten into him? Alexander wasn’t like this before, why now?

“Holy shit.” Husk laughs. Kid’s got balls, he’ll give him that.

“Oh my god…” Vaggie’s holding her face. This is bad.

“Hey, I'm back! What did I miss?” Charlie enters the living room with another bowl of popcorn.

“He said Katie has a toy in her-!” Angel yells before getting shit-whipped by the pillow Vaggie throws at him.

“Nothing.” Vaggie interrupts and moves to the side to let Charlie sit next to her.

Katie stays silent and puts her pen down, she holds her smile and composure “I am aware what you are attempting to do, but I’m much too professional to let you get to me.”

“Pardon?” Alexander straightens himself and leans forward with his glass half empty. Sam is egging him on with a thumbs up, Jackson with motioning him no, Brandon and Hector are watching, but Brandon’s smiling. “Would the bug that lost her shit over being called a bitch like to repeat what she just said?”

Tom is slowly leaning down on the desk while Katie produces a snapping noise from out of nowhere, but her claws are on the desk.

“Excuse me?” Katie is tapping her claws, her tone sounds deadly, but Alexander’s not intimidated. He’s not backing down.

“You’re in Hell, everyone gets called a bitch and moves on with it, but when a guest of yours, the fucking _Princess of Hell_ , calls you one; you spaz out.” Alexander keeps pressing and the audience is slightly getting louder while his mates are watching with carrying degrees of horror and encouragement. “Does the word Bitch squish you or something? You should be more insulted by me calling you a twig-necked whore than someone calling you a bitch. And let’s be honest, bitch should be a compliment for you.”

Everyone’s losing their shit.

Angel’s laughing. He chokes a few times but continues to laugh despite the dangers of him dying via hilarity.

Crymini is joining him in this attempt of death by merriment “Oh my god! This is great!”

Alastor is also laughing. He’s very amused by this performance of sassiness. Alexander is much more interesting than he first thought.

Vaggie is holding it in, she would laugh if she knew no better, but Charlie is horrified. Charlie covers her face and moans “no!”

Niffty is smiling. Her reaction is quite tame compared to everyone.

And, to the surprise of everyone, Husk is laughing from his seat.

Katie produces a growl and some cracking noises. Tom is slowly moving away from her. Jackson is holding his face. Brandon is laughing his arse off with Sam. Hector is staying silent, but he’s smiling.

The audience is laughing.

“Okay… Now onto more impo-” Tom is interrupted by Katie snapping at Alexander.

“You have a lot of balls, don’t you, freak?” Katie’s claws scratch on the desk.

“You have a lot of death wishes, don’t you, you maggot looking shell of shit?” Alexander quips back and the audience laughs harder. He sips his glass “If Charlie were any other demon with her amount of power, you would have been dead before you started laughing at her. So, I admire you stupidly high levels of confidence. Let’s hope you don’t get killed in an extermination.”

“Of course a little cuck like you would approve of her train wreck.” Katie growls but lets out a laugh to calm herself down “Look here, Screamer, the main difference between you calling me a twig-necked whore and that dyke calling me a bitch is that you at least have some recognition in Hell while that failure is a fucking pathetic excuse of a laughing stock.”

Alexander breaks his glass.

“What a bitch.” Crymini calms herself down and comments with some distain in her tone.

“Yeah…” Charlie is uncomfortable hearing Katie insulting Alexander. She should have known that Alexander would react this way to the TV Host. Alexander holds grudges like everyone else, but he also pulls through with them.

They all go silent to hear him quip back “ _You have a lot of death wishes, don’t you, you maggot looking shell of shit?_ ”

“Where is he getting these?” Angel wheezes and holds his sides as he laughs louder.

“ _If Charlie were any other demon with her amount of power, you would have been dead before you started laughing at her. So, I admire you stupidly high levels of confidence. Let’s hope you don’t get killed in an extermination._ ”

“He has a point, there, dear.” Alastor states as he gives Charlie a side glance, they make eye contact and Charlie looks away, rubbing her arms.

He does.

If Charlie was a typical demon, she would have retaliated harshly against anyone that crossed her. She has the power to do so. But, she wants to everyone to see the good in themselves, to try avoid a death worse than anything on earth. A death that will rip your soul away from your body permanently, leaving your flesh to be eaten by the cannibals that find you.

She doesn’t want that to happen anymore… to sinners that can rehabilitate themselves and have a second chance that their lives had not given to them.

“ _Look here, Screamer, the main difference between you calling me a twig-necked whore and that dyke calling me a bitch is that you at least have some recognition in Hell while that failure is a fucking pathetic excuse of a laughing stock._ ”

They hear the glass break.

“Oh no.” Charlie looks to the TV and sees Alexander holding broken shards of glass in his hand, glaring at Katie who’s smiling at him.

“ _If anyone deserves to die in an extermination, it should be that air-headed little gay._ ” Katie laughs and the audience goes silent as Alexander gives off an aura deadlier than an angel during the fated day of death. “ _It would be good riddance. Maybe she'll find redemption when she loses her sanity in the void._ ”

Alexander stands up and Jackson stands with him to hold him back with all four hands “ _Let it go, mate, it's not worth it-_ ”

Alexander growls at him and everyone can see his eyes glow. He’s pissed. “ _Like hell it isn't._ ”

He breaks away and lunges at Katie with a yell.

Everyone’s speechless.

“So…” Tom tries to pick up the conversation again. All the cameras are focused on him and the band, both Katie and Alexander can be heard brawling in the background. “Would anyone like to answer questions?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah.” Jackson pulls his eyes away from the brawl and uses his spare hands to snap Hector, Sam and Brandon out of their stupor as well to pay attention. He’s astonished by what is happening. He and Alexander are going to have a serious talk when they get back home.

“How long have you all known each other?” Tom asks and leans forward to begin his solo interview.

“A few years before we died.” Hector answers, surprisingly, but the other three nod in agreement.

“How did you die, if you don’t mind me asking?” Tom asks and he appears more nervous than before when the brawling gets louder. The Audience is beginning to root teams.

“Our tour bus tumbled down a hill… I think?” Sam is confused. He doesn’t know exactly what happened that night. If the Bus crashed or tumbled. It brings back bad memories…

“Didn’t it crash into something?” Hector asks, looking at Sam in confusion.

“Well, whatever happened, it involved a bus.” Jackson informs and he flinches hearing a yell from Alexander.

“Ha! Now I’m remembering something funny.” Brandon laughs out. Everyone looks at him. “We performed a cover for Suicide Silence’s “Unanswered” remember? Right before dying!”

“Oh yeah.” Sam laughs along with him.

“What is the significance of this song?” Tom asks, now interested. Now this is a proper interview.

“Well one of the phrases in the song is “I want the hand of God to come and strike me down” and we die literally a day after playing the song.” Brandon explains and Tom nods along. Very ironic. “I guess the hand of God really did strike us down.”

“What an interesting coincidence.” Tom exclaims over the quiet shriek in the background.

“Yeah, karma really bit us in the arse.” Hector speaks and quiets down, distracted. Jackson shakes his shoulder to get him to stop watching the fight.

“So, how did you discover this passion of… Death Metal?” Tom continues this interview, but pauses to wait for some answers. He gets a few nods and reiterates “Yes, Death Metal. How did you figure out this was it? This is what you’d strive for?”

“I just like playing bass and growling into the mic.” Brandon leans back in his seat, crossing his arms and trying not to look at the brawl.

“In Death Metal, you play drums more zealously. It’s fun.” Jackson explains and summons his drumsticks to emphasise his point.

“I just like it.” Hector mumbles and looks over to the brawl again. It’s getting interesting.

“Well, it all started when I was- wait hold on.” Sam stands out and cups his paws around his mouth to yell “GO FOR THE NECK!”

There's a loud snapping noise and Katie is thrown across the studio in front of the camera and in front of the hot seat. The band and Tom watches as she immediately rushes back to the other side to get back at Alexander.

The brawl continues.

“Anyway…”

There's a really loud snap and screech. Tom and the Band pause at the silence.

Alexander suddenly appears in the shot and comes back to his seat, all roughed up. A cut on his lip, a black eye, some scratches, a pretty bad looking arm. No one wants to see what Katie looks like.

He sits down like nothing happened and leans forwards with his elbows on his knees, smiling “What did I miss?”

And the studio audience gives off a laugh

Everyone at the hotel are just in complete shock. Sure, the interview was held professionally well, but the way Alexander snapped…

“Give him a fucking raise.” Crymini says out of the blue while turning her attention to a stricken Charlie.

It’s been a few hours since the interview and Alexander can honestly say that it didn’t end that bad. A quick survey after the interview told his Boss that people are more likely going to attend concerts, so he didn’t get reprimanded for his behaviour.

Jackson, on the other hand, went full on. Alexander can still feel the ringing in his ears.

Alexander opens the Hotel’s doors and winces slightly when his arm grazes the wood. He’s covered in band aids and bandaging, not to mention that his arm is in a precautionary splint. He may not regret fighting Katie and showing her who’s boss, but he kind of regrets giving her the opportunity to hit back.

He walks inside and through the lobby, he finds Charlie looking at him at the bar. She looks concerned. Oh boy. Might as well get this over with.

Alexander walks over with a smile and he waves at her with his good hand “Hello, Love, did you see the interview?”

“Yeah…” Charlie answers and gives him a look. Alexander recognises it as “You’re in trouble but I can’t say anything about it because I love you for what you did.” Maybe the interview went better than he expected, getting Charlie’s pay back for her.

But Alexander knows that Charlie wants to say something else “Yes?”

“Did you have to fight her?” She asks as she holds her hands up to his splint, he nods and she gently grazes her fingers over it and the bandaging.

“Yes. Yes, I did.” He answers. He has no regrets about fighting Katie.

“You know, kid.” Both jump hearing Husk’s voice. They see him drinking some whiskey and looking at Alexander “remind me not to mess with you in the future. You have balls.”

Before Alexander could thank Husk for the rare compliment, he hears a door crash open.

“Whoa! There he is! Man of the hour!” Alexander’s antler is pulled back and he’s forces to bend down in an awkward position to look at Crymini. She hugs him and he has no choice but to hug back “Oh my god! Oh my God! You’re my favourite vocalist! Why didn’t you tell me you were part of the Rose of Blasphemy!? You were great!”

“Thank you, love. I thought you knew like the rest of us.” Alexander looks over and Vaggie walking over. Oh boy, he’s going to get complimented or he’s going to get reprimanded. Probably both, he’ll submit to his fate.

“What were you thinking!?” Alexander smiles at Vaggie as she rips into him. He’s ready for it. “You fought her on live television!”

“I am aware.” Alexander holds his smile a little bit nervously.

Vaggie crosses her arms and stays quiet with a glare, but then huffs and takes Charlie’s hand “You did good, I was impressed.”

Alexander is dumbfounded by this. He goes to respond but Charlie beats him to it when both girls wander off “Vaggie and I need to research more! See you later! Good luck!”

“Good luck?” Alexander asks himself but he laughs to calm his nerves. He walks off while giving Husk a wave, he opens the door to the garden and he’s greeted by Angel “Hello, Love, how may I help you?”

“I may not like the idea of you dating my Sister, bub, but I have to say this.” Angel’s tone makes Alexander nervous, but then Angel laughs. The Spider walks by him and gives Alexander a friendly slap to the back. Alexander holds in the wince but smiles “Dude, that was awesome!”

Alexander looks back seeing Angel walk off and he then continues on his merry way. Maybe he can ask Alastor to tame the black vines today.

“Oh! Alexander!” Alexander jolts hearing Nifty’s voice and nearly jumps out of his skin when she appears out of nowhere “You’re so strong!”

“Oh…” Alexander calms himself and smiles down at her “Thank you, Love. But what are you doing in the garden?”

“Alastor asked me to clean up the pathways!” Niffty gives his legs a hug before zooming off with the words “Bye!”

Alastor asked her to clean up the pathways?

Alexander walks around the garden. Everything is tended for today, he notices, no work for today it seems. He wonders who tended the garden but gets distracted by how clean the dirt ways are. Niffty did a perfect job, not a colour or piece of dirt out of place. And the plants are left untouched. He gives her kudos, even he can’t clean up the garden this well on most days.

Alexander walks to the Black Bonsai vines and sees that everything is done for today.

“That plant is far too troublesome, but alas, it adds to the aesthetic.” Alexander feels the instinctive drop in his stomach. He turns his head and sees Alastor sitting on a garden bench and reading a book. He motions a finger closer and Alexander obeys. As he gets closer, he notices that the book is on flowers. How peculiar.

Alexander sits next to Alastor and warily keeps a bit of distance. To break some feelings, Alexander cracks a joke “Are you going to compliment me as well? All I did was snap.”

Alastor gives a hearty and Alexander gives one out as well. He wasn’t expecting that, but it’s so random that it’s making him laugh as well. Alastor stops laughing and Alexander looks at him curiously when he shuts the book “You are a very entertaining character, Alexander. I look forward to your next mess.”

Then he gets up and walks away.

Alexander sighs through his nose and leans back on the bench. He’ll enjoy the garden’s beauty today.


	17. Chapter 13

It’s late in the evening. Needles crack underneath his footsteps as he makes his way through the streets. The lights flicker as he walks along, passing the demons shooting heroin on the ground, some dying while others are “just fine”.

Hell City may be the epitome of the bad side of any city, slums, sketchy drug dealers, druggies, prostitutes, gangs, the works; but the bad side of Hell… the worst part of Hell… it hides the worst of the worst.

He enters an alley and he stops. A figure in a dark cloak entertains the light in across the bricks and concrete, their shadows splitting and fading out.

Richard walks up to them and stands in front of them, waiting. They reveal a hand from beneath their cloak and hands over an item in a cloth, wrapped carefully and securely, almost as if revealing it can induce a shock.

“And this is legit this time?” Richard snatches the clothed item while giving his… “friend” a glare “It’s not fake? Not diluted or some crap like last time?”

“No, it’s legit this time. Pure.” The demon opens their hand waiting, Richard groans and hands over his money. He walks off “Where are you going?”

“Either to get ice cream or to kill someone.” Richard replies sarcastically as he walks off out of the alley.

Richard had walked to a better part of the city. Fancier, less drugs, less prostitutes, but damn colourful and music fills the air.

The Clubs all have a theme or so. 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, all by the decades, but somehow all rewind around swing.

It’s pretty sickening.

Richard finds the right club, bouncy and it has a crowd. It’s the one he’s looking for.

He enters the club, sneaking in without paying and he finds a table among the rest of the demons, pulling out his phone as he waits. The stage is silent and everyone seems to be eager for something.

If this is the place, his timing should be perfect.

The curtains open.

There’s a light giggle and the crowd goes silent.

There’s a woman on stage hiding behind a pink umbrella.

The polka instrumental begins and the woman reveals herself. Molly.

Molly walks out and the lights shimmer on her attire. A short pink silk pinup dress, it’s slightly transparent to see the garters on top of her thigh high stockings. Her bodice is tight enough to emphasise her breasts and waist, a white corset riddled with pink sequins to shine in the light.

Richard’s jaw drops and eyes widen at her appearance, nearly dropping his phone. Sure, he’s seen her before, but wow…

“There's a garden – what a garden.” Molly sings and she walks to the stage with a bubbly jump to her step “Only happy faces bloom there.”

Richard composes himself to watch her performance, snapping a few photos as he does so, but he’s distracted. Her voice is… beautiful.

“And there's never any room there – for a worry.” Molly skips to the other side of the stage and kicks a patron on the way “Or a gloom there.”

Richard is amazed. She’s sexy, she’s bubbly, her voice is beautiful. How did a fucking idiot like Alexander manage to get with a girl like her?

“Oh there's music and there's dancing, and a lot of sweet romancing.” Molly swoons on stage and the crowd, including Richard, whistles when her skirt lifts slightly when she spins. “When they play the polka, they all get in the swing.”

Richard leans on his elbow. He had seen Molly a lot more during these times. Following her… okay, basically stalking, but it’s for a greater cause.

“Every time they hear that oom-pa-pa.” Molly swings her hips at the verse and she puts a pop in her words “Everybody feels so tra-la-la.”

Richard gets lost in his thoughts.

Fucking hell… ever since Alexander grew a spine, his life has been going smoothly. But Richard’s life… could have been better.

It should have been better! He’s hot, he’s a great vocalist, he deserved more in life, he’s charismatic! Hell, he’s so charismatic the he can work anyone under his thumb, no one could get out of his control. But the day Alexander wormed out of his influence… that was the day he knew he had to get rid of him.

But then he moved to fucking Australia! And right after _Alexander_ got chosen to be the lead vocalist when it _should_ have been _Richard_ that got chosen.

It took him ages to mooch money off idiots to follow him. Fucking morons back in Britain; easy to wrap around your finger, and fucking annoying to keep track of.

But once Alexander broke himself out – all because he choked him one time, and sure, maybe Richard poisoned him for a few weeks – after a year of being under his thumb, others just _started_ to get out as well. Richard kept them on leash for a while after they started to get a fucking brain.

It’s because of Alexander that he started spiralling out in the first place! So of course he followed him!

Richard wanted to make his life hell! He knew that Alexander would be too much of a wuss to confront a harasser behind paper, and he counted on it! For weeks after he arrived, Richard wove his web again, stalked that fucking idiot and sent him letters.

And he was getting close to sending him off the edge!

But… that… failed as well…

And after their fight… which he still thinks Alexander used _something_ against him… Richard fell to Hell…

And it only made him angrier…

“Sing a song of good cheer, 'Cause the whole gang is here!” Molly cheers out and kicks a small demon across the room, Richard leans away and looks back to her. She’s swaying and twirling her umbrella as the band plays the piano and drums in a light tone. Must have been quite the performance, damn, he missed it. She stops dancing and raising her voice in a magnificent harmony with the ending note of the instrumental “Roll it out, roll it out – Let's do the beer barrel polka!”

The crowd roars and claps. Richard stands up and claps as Molly bows.

The Curtains close.

Richard gets up and sneaks to the side of the stage. Security is light here since it’s not a rough place. Typically, the patrons have more self-control in this area.

He catches up to Molly before she could reach her door “Pardon me, love.”

His appearance seemed to surprise her, but she turns to him with a smile, “Hi!”

“Oh, I apologise for startling you.” Richard plays it well. Molly is like most women her type; blissfully unaware of who he is and what he can become. Easily persuaded and easy to put down her walls. “I just came to compliment your performance. I have never seen anything that stunning in Hell.”

“Thank you.” Molly seems happier at that. This is going well. Richard offers a hand and she takes it, confused.

“My name is Richard, love, may I have the honour of learning yours?” Richard kisses the back of her hand.

“It’s… Molly.” She takes her hand back slowly. Richard stands back up and smiles. Molly points to her room “I need to change.”

“Of course, Love.” Richard waves and his smile goes a bit crooked before she shuts the door “Have a nice evening, it’s going to be killer.”

Molly strips and sighs. Today has been a little weirder than usual. A few more demons she kicked across the room. It’s nothing big.

She has other problems to deal with.

Angel and Alexander.

Molly knows that Angel means well, and she knows that he’s worried for her. It’s irrational but it’s better than her father finding out. God forbid he finds out. At least Arackniss can keep his mouth shut.

Angel doesn’t approve of Alexander. Molly knows his views on everyone in Hell, and she understands why. Most demons in hell deserve to be in Hell, even the ones that seem friendly. And she can understand why, Alexander seems like the type person that’s… edgy.

But he’s not like that. He’s just an adorable dork.

Alexander seems to be a little more hesitant to get along, and Molly can’t blame him. But he’s trying… sort of. He does the bare minimum and it’s a little annoying.

She gets that Angel can be intimidating, but he can’t hurt him or threaten him without her yelling at her.

Molly sighs and sits in her dress. Maybe it’s a British thing?

Speaking of British…

That guy before…

Molly always found imps to be cute, how they are so easy to anger and how easy it is to kick them around.

But this guy… Richard was it? There’s something off about him…

He’s kind and all… a little flirty… but there’s this undermining… off-ness to him. Something Molly can’t pin point.

She’s met demons like him before, so she knows his type, but at the same time, he’s not that type…

It’s creepy…

Molly fixes up her hair and grabs her purse. She needs to get out and go home, do some things, eat, plan something. Just normal things outside of work.

She opens her door and steps through a bit. She can feel her heart jump when she sees a shadow in her peripheral vision. It’s Richard.

“Hello, Love.” Richard greets with a smile. He’s leaning beside her door. Molly’s a little freaked out. He was waiting outside the whole time? Richard laughs and holds up a garter. _Her_ Garter “You dropped this.”

“Thanks…” Molly laughs nervously and she takes it and puts it in her purse. How did it _fall_ of? She waves “I-uh… I need to go…”

“It’s alright, love.” Richard waves as Molly speed walks away. He watches from his spot as she hurries through the crowd and out the employee’s only door, bidding her workmates goodbye in the process.

He lifts himself off the wall and sneaks out as well. He knows where Molly’s usual route is. It took a while, back he’s followed her before, on numerous occasions actually, he’s only succeeded twice.

He knows where she lives, but the way there is difficult.

Richard looks around and spots Molly down the street. So far down already, it’s a reason why he’s been having trouble following her.

Richard manages to jog after her, keeps a far distance and he pulls out his phone. He takes a shortcut to match her route and he aims his camera at her when she’s closer. He gets a few good pics before following her again.

After a while, he follows her to her apartment, takes a few last photos and calls it a day.

He has enough.

Richard’s writing as he walks. Oh, how to make it more intimidating. How to make it terrifying… to that prick at least.

Richard avoids the druggies and the whores in the street as he writes. He wants to put so much heart and thought into this letter that he wants the life to squeeze out of Alexander’s heart.

He wants Alexander to get angry.

He wants Alexander to be scared.

He wants Alexander to kneel before him, either in defeat or death. That way, it will be even.

Richard pulls out some photos and has a look over them, throwing some over his shoulder when he deemed them unsatisfactory. He wants the perfect photos for Alexander to see.

When Richard deems the letter and its components satisfactory, he puts all in an envelope and spins around a demon in his way as he licks the glue.

He spies a letter box and figures he might as well use it. No one in Hell is stupid enough to steal letters nowadays. He manages to catch the mailman and give them the letter, a little threat and he sent them on their way.

Now he has to go to the place.

It’s night. The street lamp is flickering, but it’s keeping the area illuminated. In the alleyway, Richard is leaning against the wall, playing around with his newest buy.

Richard whistles a creepily happy tune as he thinks about what he’ll do. He wants Alexander to be under his thumb like the good old times. Having that submissive idiot under his control again would be fulfilling, and totally satisfactory.

He hears some footsteps in the distance. Fast and hard against the concrete. There’s almost an ominous sound to it.

Richard laughs to himself and pulls back the cloth to reveal his prize, it gleams under the wavering light of the street lamp.

He can see himself shine in the pearly white metal, his smile is as clear as how deadly as what item is.

An Angel Blade.


	18. Chapter 14

Alexander rolls his shoulders. Today is a day where he just does not feel right. He doesn’t understand why, it’s just a feeling. A feeling that won’t go away.

There’s a weird feeling in his stomach. Is it stress? It doesn’t feel like stress, or at least the stress he used to feel before doing a test in school. It’s tingly. Is he sick?

It’s been there for a whole day, and it’s really distracting. Alexander _knows_ something is wrong. He just doesn’t know _what_.

“Alex.” Upon hearing his Boss, Alexander jumps and looks over to him. His Boss is holding a few letters “You have a letter.”

“Really? From who?” Alexander takes the letter and looks over it in confusion. There’s no return address.

“Mailman said it was from a friend.” The Boss moves on and sorts through the rest of the envelopes. Alexander guesses that those are probably bills or something else.

Alexander shrugs and opens the envelope. It’s probably from Charlie or someone from the Hotel. Or a fan letter. Who knows. Letters are rare.

Instantly, he sees a photograph. Alexander pulls it out and sees that it’s a photo of Molly during a performance. This confuses him.

Sure, he likes her performances, and he doesn’t mind her having fun while doing so. He likes her costumes too.

Did she send him these?

He spies a few more photos and pulls them out. These ones… are different.

One’s of Molly walking down a street.

Another is of her shopping or browsing some clothing.

This one is when she’s at her apartment building…

The last…

It’s of her undressing in _her room._

_Who the fuck is this from?_

Alexander looks around quickly and walks to the exit while placing the photos back in the envelope. There is no way in Hell he is letting his mates look at these.

What are these? Why would someone send him these? How did they get them? Is Molly aware of them? Of course _she’s not fucking aware of them_!

Alexander calms himself down. Surely, this is some sick joke… Molly can take care of herself. Especially when she knows something is off. She can kick arse.

Alexander looks into the envelope again and sees paper. There’s a letter too? That feeling in his stomach has increased tenfold.

Oh, Lord, please be something mild. Please, don’t be something bad…

_I hope life’s been just fine and dandy for you, Alexander, seeing you survived getting stabbed. Seeing you in pain reminds me of the good old days when you were under my control like the stupid little mindless fuck you are._

_It’s been a few weeks since we’ve last encountered each other and I found it necessary to break the silence now that I’ve found something interesting._

_As you can see, I’ve found your girl. And what a catch you’ve made, makes me wonder how a pathetic little shit like you win her over. I hope you don’t mind sharing sometime, I wouldn’t mind a piece._

_The way she undresses in her room is almost an invitation for me to break into her apartment. Like a strip tease. The way she slips off her undergarments and romps around in her room, almost sends a man off the edge, doesn’t it?_

_Just her walking on the streets nearly sends me off. Being vulnerable enough to walk among demons, a brave thing to do for a little filly like her. How do you keep it to yourself? The fear that someone might snatch her up in an alley?_

_One can only imagine how she acts in her sheets. If she’s anything like her famous porn star brother, one would compare the two. Is she a wonder in bed, Alexander? The anticipation of knowing so is damn near flat lining._

_If you don’t want me to do the unspeakable, I’ve set up a place to meet up. We can negotiate what to do in regards to your lady friend._

_And you don’t need to worry about the photos, you can keep them. I have many more._

_Signed_

_Richard_

Alexander’s hands shake as he reads. He’s… he’s fucking pissed off.

He shoves the letter in his shirt pocket, he might as well go and fuck Richard up for pulling this shit on him.

“I’m heading out!” Alexander calls out as he opens the front door. He needs to get this over with. Richard signed the letter with his _stupidly_ cursive and long signature and an address. He’s heading there.

“Be back before nine.” His Boss calls out

Richard is proud of himself. He knows how to get on Alexander’s nerves, how to pluck the right strings to make him squirm. He wants to make Alexander feel worthless again.

Oh, to have control over this pathetic little runt again.

He plays with the knife in his hands. It’s the real deal, one hundred percent real Angel Metal. It can kill demons effortlessly, if you puncture the right places. That fake knife he bought was as worthless as a wood and clay bridge. This one…

This one is perfect.

He hears footsteps, rushed and hard against the concrete, obviously frantic. He’s here already? Alexander must be scared.

Richard’s beginning to wonder if he went a little too far involving a pretty lady like that.

Of course he didn’t. Nothing’s too far.

He looks over to the street light and sees Alexander standing underneath it, he can’t see his face, but his eyes… they’re glowing. And there’s a slight offness to them, but Richard doesn’t care.

“You’re here ear-” Richard is then suddenly punched in the jaw. He stumbles back and holds his jaw, opening and closing his mouth to ease the sudden pain.

“Ooh, you really fucked up…” Alexander growls at him and heads over. Richard quickly gets up and composes himself as Alexander gets closer “You just had to include her.”

“Your Lady friend?” Richard gives a smirk and walks backwards, hands in his jacket, holding onto the knife “Of course I had to, after all, when you’re dead, I doubt that whore wouldn’t mind if I swoop in instead.”

Alexander punches him in the face again. Richard could only stumble back a few steps before getting kneed in the stomach and thrown a couple of feet back.

“How dare you!” Alexander roars and before Richard knows it, he’s cut. Vines shread his clothing and skin in flashes in pain, constricting his body before slamming him to the ground face first “How fucking dare you threaten the woman I love!”

The Vines throw Richard in the air and he crashes in some rubbish bins. He groans and manages to sit up, but he hops up immediately before vines crash into the exact place he was just sitting.

Richard manages to avoid the vines for a few seconds before getting wrapped and cut by the thorns. He’s thrown to the wall, the sound of his bones cracking against the bricks, and he slumps against it when the vines release him.

He hears slow footsteps and glares at the shoes slowly walking over, and when they stop in front of him, he spits at the ground before them.

“You know, Richard.” The vines slowly constrict around the Imp’s arms and pull him up the wall, then go for his neck. Richard let’s out a strangled choking noise and claws at the vines, the knife securely in his jacket. There’s no blood coming from his neck, the thorns on the vines are only grazing his skin, yet tightening enough to make it painful. Alexander stands in front of him, he appears calm, but Richard knows better. Alexander is livid. “If I was the old me you still think I am; I would probably fall for your tricks…”

Richard manages to swipe at Alexander but missed pathetically. The Vines lightly cut his neck and there are small beads of blood running under the vines.

“But I’m not.”

Even without the distortion in his voice, Alexander is practically ready to kill.

“Angel…” Molly cannot believe that he’s still going off about this. They are currently both walking down the street, coming from her work place. Angel came along to hang out with her, and she was happy with that, but then he wanted to talk about Alexander… on how he was “bad” for her.

“Molly! I’m serious!” Angel whines and hops in front of her, she walks by and he walks after “Alexander is bound to be a bad guy!”

“You know, Angel, I am really getting annoyed with you.” Molly sighs and her sudden turn to her brother makes him flinch back “Why are you so fixated on Alexander and I’s relationship? We’re fine! And you interrogated him for fucks sake!”

Angel rubs his arms when she continues on her way “Molly, I’m just lookin’ out for you…”

“I know you are, but you’re going too far.” Molly groans and continues on. Angel follows her with his hands behind his back “Alexander is my boyfriend, you got to accept that.”

Before Angel could respond, they both hear a scuffle going on and some yelling. There’s a snap and both shrug it off. Knowing this part of the city, it’s probably a drug deal gone wrong. They’re surprised that no gun has gone off.

“As I was trying to say…” Angel continues and Molly rolls her eyes. She pauses, staring into the alleyway. Angel takes note and figures it’s a swanky sight “You don’t know if that’s a façade or not, you don’t even know why… he’s… in Hell…”

There’s Alexander. In the alley. Pinning a guy to the wall.

“Alexander?” Molly calls out, both confused and concerned. Angel would feel the same, except he’s thinking he’s hit the jackpot.

“How would you like your death? Slow or fast?” Alexander tightens the vines around Richard’s neck. Richard chokes and tries to claw the vines, but Alexander’s hands are pinning his against the wall. Alexander can almost feel a smile creep on, and if he knew no better, he would have. This situation requires… special care. “I think a nice, agonisingly slow-”

“Alexander?” That voice snaps him out of it.

“Molly?” His hands loosen. What is she doing here?

In the moment he makes eye contact with Molly, Richard takes his chance. Ripping his hands away and reaching into his jacket, and with a swift motion, grabs the blade and plunges it down.

Alexander’s eyes widen and both Spiders freeze.

He feels a sting…

In his chest…

It hurts.

Alexander couldn’t make a sound before he’s pushed away. Richard runs off.

Alexander staggers and looks down. The blade is still in his chest. Its hilt is luckily around ten centimetres away from his flesh… but half of it is still in him.

He knows not to remove it but it hurts so much…

He falls to the ground.

“Alexander!” Molly shrieks and rushes over when Alexander falls. She kneels and holds him close to her while Angel attempts to chase after Richard, but without the ability to see the target, it was fruitless. Alexander’s eyes are closed and he’s limp in her arms, it’s not helping Molly feel better “Alexander! Wake up! Alexander!”

Alexander opens his eyes and he looks around in a dazed state of mind. He looks up at Molly and frowns. He doesn’t like those tears on her… but her shrieking is getting a little annoying… “Molly, my darling, quiet down… he stabbed me in the chest, not the ear…”

Molly laughs slightly at his strained and sarcastic voice. At least he’s okay… to some extent…

“Molls, I think he’s fine, but…” Angel puts a hand on her shoulder and he helps stand Alexander up on his feet. Alexander leans on him and Angel makes sure the blade stays in place and not slip out. If it came out, Alexander would most likely die faster. “We should probably take him somewhere.”

“The Hotel is closer.” Molly states and holds Alexander up too.

Angel spies something falling out of Alexander’s pocket and snatches it up quickly before helping his sister, hiding it in his fluff. They both balance Alexander and hold onto his chest, putting pressure around the stab wound.

Molly feels something wet in her hand. She knows what it is. She fucking knows what it is. And it’s bad.

“Darling…” Alexander mumbles out a wince and Molly puts her hand on another point of his chest as they all walk out of the alley.

“I know, babe…” Molly prompts both of them to walk faster while Angel freaks out a little bit. There is blood on his gloves now.

Angel’s mumbling under his breath and now both Spiders are practically carrying Alexander to the Hotel “Shit, shit, shit…”

“Hey… can I go to sleep? I’m tired…” Alexander babbles quietly and Molly tightens her hold on him.

Molly pats his shoulder and manages to curl some of his hair, she’s making her voice low and reassuringly soft “No, no, don’t go to sleep yet, stay up for a little bit longer, okay?”

“Okay…” Alexander is smiling despite the pain.

“Wake up fuckers! We need help!”

Both Charlie and Vaggie walk to the stairs to see what Angel did this time. Last time he pulled a stunt like this, it was because Husk ordered the wrong alcohol and Angel called dibs.

Then they see both Spiders holding up a barely conscious, bloody Alexander.

Charlie immediately rushes done with Vaggie in tow as both Spider practically drag Alexander to the couch.

“Oh my god! What happened?!” Charlie is by their side when Alexander is gently placed on the couch, pillows under him to make him comfortable. Molly is kneeling next to him while Angel stands over them both. Charlie’s not focusing on the blood – the blood scares her – but she’s focusing on his face. Alexander’s eyes are only just open and blinking slowly, he’s conscious, but she has no idea how long that will last.

“Alex got stabbed.” Angel explains as calm as he could, eyeing Husk when he comes in to see what all the ruckus was about. Angel knows that the scent of blood is throughout the hotel by now.

Charlie looks to the blade in Alexander’s chest and freezes. She knows what blade that is.

“What?!” Vaggie’s yell breaks Charlie out of his stupor and she stands up to try to calm herself down.

Husk comes over and looks from the neck of the couch. He has no initial reaction, but the scent and sight of blood is making his fur frisk. He pulls a bottle out of nowhere and sips, asking calmly “Who stabbed him?”

Obviously annoyed with Husk’s lack of reaction, Angel answers his question irritably “I don’t know, some creep!”

Vaggie tries to die down her yelling, pulling her hair and holding herself back from doing anything stupid. The second half works, but she still raises her voice, out of stress and some fear. Alexander has a high risk of dying right here, “that’s an Angel Blade! This can’t be “some creep” if he did this!”

Molly is then suddenly really, _really_ , loud when hearing exactly what type of blade is in her boyfriend “He’s not going to die, is he?!”

“No, he’s not going to die!” Charlie tries to deescalate the situation. “He’s going to be fine, we just need to… to…”

Alexander whines and everyone goes silent “You’re loud…”

Molly gulps down her fear and wipes her tears as she brushes her fingers through Alexander’s hair “Hey baby, are you okay?”

“My chest hurts…” Alexander laughs slightly, which confuses everyone. Does he think this is funny? There’s nothing funny about this! Molly ignores this and kisses his cheek, Alexander smiles at her. “If I didn’t have a knife in my chest… I would have thought I had really bad heartburn…”

“I’m glad you still have an awful sense of humour…” Molly sighs and notices Alexander nodding off, but he’s fighting it. Molly looks over to Husk as he is the calmest out of all of them, thus he would have the soundest mind. If he isn’t drunk. “Is it okay for him to sleep?”

“Should be… it might be easier.” Husk shrugs and waves over to someone. Instantly, Niffty is with the group and working on cleaning away the blood on the floors, carpets and fabric of the couch.

“I can sleep?” Alexander asks and reaches over to Molly’s hand, but Angel holds his shoulder down so he doesn’t move. Alexander doesn’t bother to fight it and puts his hand back down.

Molly pats his head and whispers “Yeah, you can sleep, just don’t sleep too long, okay?”

“I won’t…” Alexander keeps on a smile.

Everyone is silent as Alexander passes out.

“Okay… Okay…” It’s been a few minutes since Alexander passed out and Charlie is trying to think of what to do. She has no idea what to do. “We have a spare room, um… move him there, and we can figure things out from there.”

“What about the knife?” Angel asks while staring at it. He doesn’t know what Angel Blades do to Demons, but all he knows is that they kill. He looks over to Molly, seeing as she’s gone quiet. She’s has a hand on Alexander’s cheek and is just staring at him.

Vaggie turns attention back to Husk. He’s looking over the knife. She gives a silent sigh, “Husk, you know first aid, right?”

“Basic first aid…” Husk looks to Alexander and uses a claw to cut his shirt open “We need ice, disinfectant, bandaging, and salt. I’ll take it out when it we’re ready.”

“Okay, Niffty could you go get those?” Charlie bites his fingernails when Niffty zooms off. This is serious. Alexander is dying and she has no idea how to handle the situation. Sure, she knows how to treat a wound, but on one of her _friends_? She’s scared he’s going to die. Angel Blades can and will kill demons, and if they do one thing wrong… Alexander’s gone… That includes moving him too early… so, perhaps… “Okay… we’ll just do it here.”

“Fine.” Husk huffs and Niffty comes back with all the items. He takes the salt and disinfectant. They both do the same job essentially but the salt acts like an antihemorrhagic agent. He could give a shit which one goes first, so he pours the disinfectant on the wound, not bothering to use a tissue or rag.

Alexander winces in his sleep, and it’s taking Molly she can not to rush to his side and perhaps bash Husk’s head in.

“Where’s the ice?” Husk asks and he’s handed a pretty clean bucket of ice. He looks to the spiders “One of you surround the knife with ice, on flesh. The cold temperature will constrict the blood vessels.”

Molly nods and takes the bucket, she and Angel apply pressure as they press the ice against the wound.

Charlie holds her hands to her chest as Husk finds the salt bag again and he looks to her. Husk huffs and tightens his grasp on the bag as she looks at him with eyes that basically scream “what are we going to do?”.

“Go get Alastor, we need his voodoo shit to take the knife out.” Husk motions her off and she rushes to find Alastor. He looks to Vaggie “I need you to get fishing line.”

Before Vaggie could question Molly looks over to her, impatient “Stitching! He needs stitching! Just go get the fucking fishing line!”

Vaggie flinches and hurries off.

It’s been some time and Molly is near disassociating with the entire situation. She and Angel got the bleeding to slow down a little while ago before Alastor came down.

The initial shock of being in the presence of the Radio Demon is currently washed over by the feeling that Alexander is dying on the couch.

Molly is off to the side, sitting on the next couch over, watching both Husk and Alastor work on Alexander while Angel is beside them both ready to keep Alexander still if needed.

The girls are off somewhere, probably washing the blood off themselves. That’s a bit more probable for Niffty in that case, but Molly doubts Charlie or Vaggie would prolong the visitation of blood on their clothing.

There’s not much Husk can do with the blade still in Alexander, but since it’s an Angel Blade, it would also be close to death if it is removed. That’s why Alastor is needed.

“Pull it out in…” Alastor pulls out the blade with ease and a bright green light. Husk growls at him and immediately throws salt on the wound. Alexander convulses slightly but Angel holds him down. Husk applies pressure and glares at Alastor “Don’t fucking do that.”

“Your way would have killed him.” Alastor throws the knife up and watches as it plunges into the ceiling. It’s not going to come out for a while, it seems. How fascinating. Alastor turns his attention back to the task at hand.

“Do your black magic whatever and seal up his lung, it’s cut.” Husk orders and Alastor hums along, flicking a finger. Alexander whimpers and Husk presses down on the wound to halt the remaining blood spill.

Molly had an idea that something else was wrong, but a punctured lung? How has Alexander not practically drowned in his own blood?

Molly dazed off again and Angel nudges her to get her to snap out of it.

“And here’s where I failed basic first aid…” Husk mumbles to himself as he stitches up Alexander’s wound. He’s doing a horrible job.

“What?” Molly doesn’t like that comment but Angel keeps her calm.

“He’s in good hands, if I do say so myself.” Alastor hums and walks off. His entertainment is finished. No one died. He’s bored with this situation.

Husk finishes up his shabby good of stitching and lifts Alexander up, taking him to the room. Angel is keeping Molly from interfering. Angel notices that his sister’s hands are shaking. She’s no taking this well…

He attempts to side hug her but she walks off to follow Husk. Angel sighs, he couldn’t blame her. He follows her to make sure she doesn’t do anything.

Angel watches Molly cry silently by Alexander’s side. He’s fine for now, but it’s not too good… He’s still sleeping, but at least he’s on a bed and not on that monstrosity of a couch.

Everyone is calming down, took some showers and Niffty cleaned away the blood in the Lobby and everywhere else. But the aura in the hotel is still the same. A mixture of fear and dread.

Angel figures he should probably leave the two alone for now, those two are fine by themselves. He exits the room, giving Molly a reassuring smile before closing the door.

He spies Vaggie on the recently cleaned couch looking at him with a troubled gaze. He figures she wants to know what happened, and he doesn’t blame her. He wants to know exactly what happened as well.

But only Alexander can tell them that.

Then his mind wanders back to what he found before. What did Alexander drop?

Angel reaches into his fluff and pulls out the item from before and looks it over. It’s an envelope, a little bloody, but that’s to be expected.

Curiosity gets the better of him, and since it’s already open, why not? Angel looks through the envelope and spies a few pieces of paper.

Are those photos?

Angel pulls them out and sits on the couch. He’s glad he did because, _oh boy_ , these photos… ooh… Angel reads through the letter…

It’s not any better.

Jesus Fucking Hell! No wonder Alexander lost his shit! That fucking red asshole should be black and blue for this shit! This is his _sister_! He _stalked_ her! And he _used_ her as a _threat_!

Angel holds in his anger and manages not to lose his shit and hunt down that _mongrel_ and shoot him in the knees, then the elbows, and then finally shooting his dick off and shoving it down his throat!

But he almost feels bad.

For Alexander, not that red fucker.

He had thought he hit the goldmine of evidence to prove to Molly that Alexander was actually a bad guy. Instead, Alexander was protecting Molly. Damn, makes Angel feel like an ass…

He looks over when someone comes in the lobby. He stays silent seeing Charlie sit next to Vaggie, Niffty zooming in and Husk drinking a bottle from the bar on the couch adjacent of Angel.

He hides the envelope in his fluff again and gets up. He ignores everyone as he heads back into the room.

The door opens and Angel can see Molly cuddling up to Alexander. She’s now passed out but they’re both tangled together, arm and legs in a jumble

It’s a cute sight, to say the least, even if it had only been about ten minutes.

Angel pulls out the envelope and looks at it. Its contents are disgusting. There is no way in Hell he is going to let Molly look in it.

He knows he should show the others but he doesn’t want them to see its contents either… but it might help? He knows Vaggie would try to hunt this guy down too – well, maybe not because of Charlie…

Angel just knows that he can’t hide it from everyone

“So…”

The envelope and its contents are on the coffee table. Everyone read it.

Charlie is silent. Upset is not quite the word to describe her mood… depressed fits her far better in this context.

Vaggie is also silent, however she is a little duller than before.

Husk is on his seventh bottle.

Niffty is also silent, but she manages to clean off the blood stain from the paper. Somehow. It is very confusing. It is best not to question the technique.

Crymini had come down to see all the commotion and she was the one that spoke up. She moves the photos away with her foot and looks over to Angel, who is off to the side, arms crossed. “Alex got stabbed by some guy in his old life?”

“Again…” Vaggie sighs and takes the letter to read through it again. This Richard guy stabbed their friend again. This is troubling. Scratch that. It’s fucking serious. Alexander nearly died. “And he used your sister as leverage.”

“Yeah.” Angel huffs and glares at the photos. It’s fucking disgusting. “You know, it’s taking all of me not to go out and find this guy.”

“I don’t think that would be beneficial…” Charlie mumbles and she walks over to Angel, holding his arm to give them both some comfort. “Do you know exactly what happened?”

“All I know is that Molly was both used and threatened…” Angel growls and Charlie pats his shoulder to calm him down.


	19. Chapter 15

_There’s a scream… and blood splashes on the wall… Alexander can’t move as the body falls to the floor… a yellow smile illuminates above her…_

Alexander sits up abruptly, breathing fast and holding his head. He feels pain in his chest and holds in his sounds as he leans back, he can feel the pillows behind him and jumps slightly. Those weren’t there before.

Alexander sits up and again and pulls a pillow out in front of him, ignoring the pain the best he could. It’s soft. He looks around in confusion. He’s in a room. A room he’s never been in before.

The fuck is going on?

Alexander shakes his head and starts kneading the pillow. He needs to calm down. He’s not dead, so he should be safe.

He looks around again and takes in where he is. This room is… generic. A bed, a side bathroom, bed side table, some empty picture frames… he’s in the Hotel. There’s no denying it, he’s in the Hotel. No one can keep a room so clean, he knows Niffty’s work.

Alexander sighs in relief. He’s safe. He throws the pillow back and looks down to relax his neck, but pauses when he sees white hair. He looks over to see Molly. She’s lying next to him above the blankets, sleeping. Alexander can see tear stains on her cheeks.

He reaches over and needs to make sure. He brushes his fingers through her hair and determines that she is real. He can feel his finger tremble but he keeps his composure. He wants so bad to hug her, to hold and embrace her. But he can’t.

Because, an irritating pain in his chest is stopping him from doing so.

Alexander looks down and pulls up the blanket to see his chest tightly wrapped in bandaging. There’s no blood but it still hurts, kind of. But it’s still a bit freaky. Alexander calms down a bit before he starts thinking about it too much. His injuries are all dressed. That’s a good sign. It should be a good sign.

He recalls what happened before and he can feel himself shake. How _dare_ he. Oh, when he heals up, Richard is going to regret everything. Alexander is going to make him suffer, beg for death.

No. Don’t do that.

Alexander lets out a silent breath. He doesn’t want to wake up Molly… He doesn’t want her to know.

He groans silently and falls back into the pillow, pain subsiding now and turning a bit numb – either a good or bad sign, he’s not sure. But back to the matter at hand, how the fuck is he going to lie his way out of this one? He can’t just _tell_ her what happened!

Hey, Molly, I just got stabbed by some narcissistic cunt that stalked you for God knows how long! But Don’t worry! I’m going to go right after him and _give him no mercy…_

That’s not going to work!

Alexander pulls his hair in front of his face and racks his mind for excuses. He can’t think of anything. Why can’t he think of anything? He needs to think of something!

The door opens.

Alexanders sits up fast and winces at the pain. He holds his chest and rubs near the sore as he looks over. Vaggie’s poking her head in.

Vaggie enters and quietly shuts the door. She stays silent as Alexander sits up properly and waits for her to get closer, but she stays where she is. The two stay there in silence before she speaks up, “what happened?”

Alexander lifts his head at her question. He calms down his heart before it starts up, it’s not jumping but it was about to. He puts on a smile “just a scuffle, nothing much to worry about, Love.”

“And he stabbed you?” Vaggie’s voice is equal to that of a mother talking to her lying child. It’s like sarcasm, but it hurts a little bit more when Alexander knows that Vaggie probably helped fix his wounds. There’s no going passed her intuition…

“Well, he is a scumbag.” Alexander explains like it was obvious. It is obvious, but Richard isn’t a scumbag, he’s worse.

“With an Angel Blade.” Upon hearing her words Alexander looks down at his lap and holds himself from shutting down.

He laughs quietly as he’s taking it in. He’s not really processing the seriousness of this situation, he’s entirely focused on what happened and not what _is_ happening. He got stabbed by an Angel Blade? Is that what Richard stabbed him with? An _Angel Blade_? Alexander can feel a chill – he nearly _died_. “Is-is that why it hurts?”

“Alexander.” Alexander looks Vaggie in the eye when he looks over again. He puts on a smile at her expression. He doesn’t like it. It’s a mixture of sympathy and understanding. What could she possibly understand? “We know about the letter.”

Alexander goes silent. No… no, she was not meant to find it, how’d she find it? Wasn’t it covered in his blood or something? He still had it on him, so it must have been covered in blood, thus making it unreadable. That should be for the photos as well. God, the rest didn’t see what’s on the letter right? Wait, are they talking about the same Letter? Of course not! She must be talking about another letter! Otherwise Angel would have killed him! “What letter?”

“Listen you idiot-!” Vaggie gets shushed frantically with waving hands and a constant “shh!”, Molly groans slightly in her sleep but she stays quiet. Alexander and Vaggie watch her for a few seconds before they relax.

“I…” Alexander swallows, feeling a lump. Are those tears? Better not be, he doesn’t want to ugly cry here, not in front of Molly “I don’t want Molly to know.”

Vaggie sighs and Alexander holds his arm while curling his hair. This tension is something he should have predicted.

“I’ll answer your questions, just don’t tell Molly…” Alexander surrenders. He might as well get this over with…

Alexander winces slightly when he puts on a shirt Vaggie had given him. It’s a regular large t-shirt, a bit too big for him, but it’s fine. It covered the bandaging, it’s all good.

He looks over to Molly and leans over her carefully to kiss her forehead, he holds in his pain for her. She doesn’t need to wake up seeing him like this.

“You coming?” Vaggie calls out and pokes her head in through the door, Alexander shushes her quietly and she holds her mouth, nodding along as he comes out.

He can practically hear the questions already. He’s not looking forward to it…

The minute he steps into the living room, his stomach drops a bit. Seeing everyone… they look normal, a little concerned… but the air… the air is hard to breathe…

Someone’s pissed off…

Someone’s horrified…

It’s not a good mix…

Alexander swallows back his anxiety and gives a smile. He waves and tries to act like his chest isn’t hurting like a ten out of ten “hi, guys…”

That was not what he should have done.

Immediately Angel gets up and he’s grabbing Alexander’s shoulders. Alexander can see the film of his life start playing.

“What the hell happened!?” Angel’s shaking him and he’s yelling into his face “That creep had _photos_ of _my sister_! Who the fuck-!”

“Angel! Calm down!” Charlie pulls the spider off of Alexander and the deer calms his heart down. The film had stopped. He’s still alive.

Alexander composes himself right when Angel sits back down, crossing his arms and huffing. Alexander sports a wary smile and holds his arms.

He watches as everyone calms down in their own way. He’s not going to get out of this. He keeps up his smile. Putting up a brave face is what he can do for now. He has no idea what is going to happen, but he knows it’s not going to end smoothly…

He sits down on the couch and rubs near the wound to ease the soreness. His leg is bouncing out of anxiousness, he’s ready but it doesn’t mean he’s not nervous.

“Right. I’ll start” Vaggie starts off and gives Angel a stern glare. Alexander stops rubbing his sore. He leans back on the couch to get comfortable without pain. Vaggie clears her throat “What exactly happened with that guy you fought? His name’s Richard, right?”

Alexander confirms with a nod, not looking her in the eye as he mentally shakes off his anger upon hearing Richard’s name. He doesn’t want to tell them what happened. He doesn’t want them to know.

“How long have you had this?” Vaggie holds up the letter and Alexander avoids looking at it. It’s not entirely covered in blood, so they read everything…

“How long was I out for?” Alexander deflects. He doesn’t want to talk about this, it’s technically a private matter.

“Around two or three hours…” Crymini informs quietly. Two or three hours? He must have been in a lot of pain to pass out like that…

“Stop beating around the bush and answer the question.” Vaggie order and Alexander flinches at that.

“Fine, fine, uh… I… I got it this morning. Boss gave it to me saying someone said it was from a mate.” Alexander hides his anger. He’s not going to let it out. “I opened it and I saw the photos first. I first thought it was a little strange. Then I read the letter… I won’t lie… I was pissed.”

Alexander opens an eye to peak at Angel who’s still pissed off, but he understands. He understands that Angel is an equally scared as him, if not more.

“But it took me painstakingly too long to realise what the bastard was doing, aside from him threatening me…” Alexander sighs and bounces his other leg “I’m pissed at myself for not connecting the dots instantly that the motherfucker was stalking Molly.”

Alexander can feel his voice distort slightly, and he’s sure everyone else can hear it as well… so much for hiding his anger…

“I don’t think I can _describe_ how angry I was, but… I’ll tell you this.” Alexander opens his eyes again and he sees everyone tense up. Is something wrong? Is there something on his face? Or are they reacting to his voice? The Distortion is something he’s new to as well… Why does everything have a slightly violet hue? “ _I was out for blood last night_.”

There’s a silent and the violet hue intensifies gradually, but it’s slow. Alexander doesn’t really understand why there’s violet everywhere, are his eyes going off?

“Okay… I think we need to calm down…” Charlie speaks up as Alexander reaches up and rubs his eyes, soon the hue disappears and he sees Charlie in front of him. “You okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” Alexander rubs his eyes again. His voice is back to normal, thank god, but it’s wavering slightly. No… he doesn’t want to cry… so he sighs, holding back potential tears “I’d rather not… talk about Dickhead at the moment, Love.”

“Too bad, we are.” Angel is suddenly in front of him now, pissed off in all his glory. Alexander feels a little nervous. He pushes Charlie away and grabs Alexander by the shoulders, he pulls him up and Alexander can feel his second set of arms grab his arms and pin them to his sides. Not good… “You have only one chance to tell me straight. Who is he?”

Alexander shakes slightly. He doesn’t want to tell Angel who Richard is; he doesn’t want him to get involved. No matter how strong Angel seems to be, Alexander can’t risk it. Richard’s dangerous, in more ways than one, especially when he’s determined…

But he doesn’t really have a choice…

“He’s… well, he’s an old ex-mate of mine…” Alexander avoids eye contact. He’s not lying… He can tell him about Richard being a narcissistic psychotic stalker with a vendetta against him because Alexander managed to be good enough to win a place in his band. “A narcissistic cun-”

“Alexander?” Upon hearing the frantic sounding cry of Molly, both Alexander and Alexander get off each other to go to her. She sounds scared.

Everyone else stays in place when they leave the living room.

Both Angel and Alexander see Molly open the door and looks around frantically. She sees them speed walking over and she looks like she has calmed down, but they both don’t like those tears in her eyes.

“Sis? You okay?” Angel walks a bit faster, pushing Alexander in front of him because he knows why she’s freaking out. Alexander can practically hear Angel’s thoughts and knows what he’s doing.

“Darling, is everything alright?” Alexander asks as he’s pushed in front of her. Molly instantly hugs Alexander and he ignores the pain, no matter how much it hurts, he won’t say anything. Because, he can feel her tears through his shirt. He probably should have woken her up before he left.

He wraps his arms around her and pets her back. Now he feels bad. He must have scared her. He would be scared as well if their roles were switched.

Alexander feels Angel suddenly get pulled into the hug and assumes Molly pulled him in as well. He gives Angel a little smile as they both hold Molly, he smiles back and all three just enjoy the embrace.

Until a few seconds later when Angel pulls himself away. Both Molly and Alexander look over at him as he crosses his arms and appears a little bothered.

Angel closes his eyes and sighs, he looks back to them and states, in a softer voice “Get back to bed, we’ll sort through things later, then you can go back home.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.” Alexander gives a mock salute while Molly pulls him along to get back inside. Maybe making a joke now is a little bit inappropriate, he can feel her grip on him turning a little tighter.

He manages to close the door as Molly pulls him to the bed. He winces slightly when he lands, but stays quiet when Molly cuddles beside him. She wraps two of her arms around him and he’s able to sit up.

“Come back down.” Molly mumbles and tugs his shirt, Alexander smiles down at her and rubs near his wound to ease the pain. She shifts herself to sit up as well “Does it hurt?”

“It hurts less when I’m sitting up.” Alexander explains and Molly seems happy with that excuse. It’s not a lie. It just feels less weird when he’s sitting up, and yeah, it hurts less.

She lies back down and Alexander hesitantly lifts his hand over her head, he brushes his fingers through her hair and she reaches a hand up to entwine her fingers with his. Alexander gives a small laugh and Molly joins.

So they enjoy the peace they have.

But… Alexander probably needs to text his mates. Where’s his phone? He looks around and sees a few things on the night stand. A clean shirt and his phone. Niffty probably cleaned the blood off his shirt.

He reaches over to grab his phone and he instantly turns it on. He sees so many notifications…

Alexander looks down at Molly and wonders if he could hide out in her place for a while. No, probably not, maybe he could stay in the Hotel for a while. He wonders if Molly would like to stay with him. It would be safer, considering what happened.

Alexander gives a silent sigh and tightens his hold with Molly’s hand.

 _Hey._ He texts the group chat and he doesn’t need much time to get responses.

 _Where the fuck are you?!_ Wow, Jackson doesn’t usually swear at him, he must be worried.

 _Are you okay?_ Hector seems calm.

 _WHY were you gone so long?_ Sam seems to be a little worried. Alexander’s sure that he turned off cap mode mid text. He does that when he’s worried, but he acts like he’s fine.

 _NOW YOU RESPOND?!_ And the final one is Brandon. No surprise Brandon’s texting in caps, he usually does that when he’s freaked out.

Of course they’re sending in more texts. Alexander needs to respond fast before they go haywire.

 _Sorry! I had to go! There was a misunderstanding with Molly but it’s all sorted now._ Hopefully that would keep them quiet. It’s not exactly a lie, but it’s not the truth.

 _Why? What happened?_ That’s Jackson again.

 _What’s wrong with Molly?_ Alexander doesn’t really find it strange that Sam’s worried about Molly. They get along well.

He notes that the other two have fallen silent. They’re probably waiting for his response.

 _Nothing is wrong with Molly, that was the misunderstanding_ Alexander looks down at Molly and he sees her playing around with the blanket. She’s probably tired. He doesn’t blame her. He turns his attention back to his phone _By the way I’m staying at the Hotel for a while just to sort out some things._

 _What kind of things?_ Alexander can practically feel Hector’s disbelief shine on him like an interrogation light.

 _Apparently the Garden here is acting up at night the black bonsai lookin vine thing has a literal mind of its own._ He’s not lying. The Bonsai acts up more at night. If he tells them about… what happened… oh god, Alexander can’t begin to think of what would happen, but he can’t hide the fact he’s injured forever…

_You’re staying back because of a tree?_

_Excuse you it’s a beautiful tree and that’s not the only reason…_ Alexander lets out a silent sigh and glances to Molly again, she’s still and playing with something under the blanket. She must be tired, and Alexander feels guilty. It he worried Molly so much, he can’t imagine what his mates would be feeling.

He looks back to the phone and sees someone typing. Should he tell them? No… he shouldn’t… but they’ll find out… ugh… what should he do?!

The quiet ding catches his attention. Alexander opens it and he pales slightly at the message in all caps. _YOU GOT STABBED AGAIN_

How did they know? How did they know? How did they know? Alexander is silently freaking out and shifting his fingers in Molly’s hand. They’re blasting his phone now. God, they’re not going to let him outside for a while… _How did you know?!_

 _Molly texted us_ Alexander pauses at that answer. He glances back down at Molly and sees a faint smile on her lips… and her phone in her hand. Damn. But, he can’t get mad at her.

Alexander hears a ding and looks to his messages. There’s one that stands out, one that gives him chills. An inevitable sense of doom washed over Alexander as the rest of the texts suddenly stop. Only this one stands left, towering over the rest like a warlord conquering his enemy.

It’s from his Boss. _Tavern. Now._

Alexander groans and throws his phone to his side. He’s not going to get out of this one easily…


	20. Chapter 16

Alexander winces as Molly opens the Tavern’s door, she has an arm around his waist to help him along when the pain makes him weak. It took them a while to convince everyone at the Hotel to let them leave, Angel offered to come with as well but Molly reassured them all that she’s fine to take her boyfriend back him.

Alexander wishes she didn’t include the fact that he’s “grounded” again. They didn’t need to know that…

Molly helps him through and immediately Alexander feels dread. His mates are waiting at the bar, not looking too happy.

“Hi…” Alexander manages to squeak out as Molly holds onto his arm to walk him over.

Immediately Jackson rushes at him, Alexander yelps when he’s lifted up. It’s painful.

“Oh my god, you fucking idiot!” Jackson is holding him up by the shoulders, which isn’t really doing anything aside from lifting Alexander on his tippy toes, and then hugs him tight “Don’t you fucking lie like that again!”

“You’re more worried about me lying than the fact you’re crushing my stab wound.” Alexander whines but he’s hugging back. Jackson gasps and lets him go, Alexander gives a weak smile when he’s staring at the bandaging “It’s fine-”

“It’s not fucking fine, you goddamn moron!” Brandon is suddenly by his side and pulling him to the left by his antler. Oh god he’s pissed. “You got stabbed! Again!”

Alexander holds a hand over his wound as Brandon pulls him over. Fuck, he’s mad. He looks to Jackson who’s just watching with slight worry. Great… Brandon’s so mad that _Jackson_ won’t calm him down. Alexander sure fucked up this time.

Alexander holds a nervous smile when Brandon makes him look him in the eye. The fact that Brandon’s growling isn’t very reassuring “you’re in so much fucking trouble.”

Alexander nervously laughs and winces, Brandon lets him go and watches as Alexander hold a newly bloody patch on his chest.

There’s a silence.

“The fuck did you do?!” Sam suddenly yells and he hurries over to them. Alexander couldn’t stop him fast enough before he pulls him away from Brandon and thus ruining his black and white fur. There’s something in his eyes. He’s panicking, obviously, but his eyes are in slits and it’s like he’s having a flash back. Alexander winces when Sam pushes a paw against his wound, presumably to keep the blood from gushing out “God, it’s so bad.”

“How about we all calm down…” Jackson tries to pipe up but he quiets down soon enough. Hector is next to him, he pats Jackson’s arm and the Spider snaps out of it. “How bad does it hurt?”

“Surprisingly, not that bad.” Alexander still keeps a smile. Sam is not taking any chances; he’s still pressing his paws against Alexander’s chest. Alexander looks to Molly and he gives the silent cue that he does not know what to do. She looks away slightly but she comes over with a troubled frown, taking out a white handkerchief from somewhere and presses it against Alexander’s wound while shooing Sam away. Alexander winces “Is it bad that it’s going numb?”

“Yes.” All six demons jump at the sudden voice. The voice of dread, of total seriousness and authority. Alexander knows he’s in deep trouble now.

Alexander looks over to the side and sees his Boss giving him a stern glare. Oh no…

He strides over and takes Alexander’s arm to pull him away from the rest. Boss pulls down Alexander’s collar to take a closer look at the bandaging he has. Alexander squirms a bit, it’s tingly and his Boss is pressing slightly on his skin, blood spilling out in large and slow drips. From the look in his Boss’ eyes, he’s not impressed.

“The fuck kind of doctor did you go to?” He mumbles then grabs Alexander’s antler to pull him along. Alexander winces and keeps the handkerchief on his wound as he goes along “I’m fixing you up, then you’re going _the fuck_ to bed.”

“Ow! Fuck!” Alexander’s yells are heard from the other room. There’s a small crash, something empty fell over it seems. Then another yell “Bloody Hell!”

“It’s a fucking needle! Shut up!” The Boss barks and then there’s silence.

Molly is worried. Sure, stitching a wound is supposed to be easy pain, but she doesn’t know much about stitching a chest wound. She knows that area is sensitive, but then again, maybe her boyfriend is being a little too dramatic.

“So, do you know what happened?” Molly turns her attention to Jackson. He looks more dishevelled than usual; like he was frantic. She knows what it’s like, she’s a spider too. Their kind’s fur doesn’t fair well with stress or fear.

“Well, Angel and I were walking…” Molly pauses a bit at her explanation. She remembers a small crack sound when Alexander took his eyes off the enemy… the Imp… and the pain in his eyes… “And we saw him get stabbed by an Imp.”

“Imp?” Sam hops beside her, on four legs as he perches on the bar. Sitting down in feline posture as he leans his head down “Those tiny things?”

“No, this guy- he was… umm…” Molly tries to think of a way to describe him. The creepy sleazebag from her work… What did he do to get on Alexander’s nerves? “He was more… human than usual. Kind of short, but like six foot. And a crooked smile…”

“Red skin? Yellow teeth?” Hector sits next to her on a stool. He’s leaning forward and Molly can see… something in his eyes. It’s there, but it’s not? A small spark or flame… “Ugly arse mullet?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Molly asks and Hector’s eyes change… his pupils slit.

“Fucking hell…” Brandon growls and holds his snout to keep him from getting louder. He’s pissed off…

Molly hears growling off to her side and she sees Sam clawing the counter. His claws are cracking the wood. He’s not looking at her but she can see his eyes as well, his pupils are in slits as well.

She looks over to Jackson in confusion but she sees his holding his face as well. There’s something off with him though… he’s holding his eyes…

“What’s wrong? Do you know him?” Molly looks among all four of them. Instantly all of them snap their heads to look at her, which is freaky in its own right, but they seem to now realise that she is indeed still present. They look normal now.

“He’s… he’s the guy that…” Brandon can’t get the words out since he growls each time he pauses. He holds his snout to hold his mouth closed while looking off to Jackson.

“He’s the bloke that shanked Alexander the first time.” Jackson finishes off for him and Molly’s eyes widen slightly at this new information. Jackson crosses all of his arms and is erratically tapping his fingers against his arm.

Sam growls and scratches the counter as he leans up on his legs “I’m gonna kill him.”

“No you’re not.” Hector pipes up unusually loud, he gets up on the counter as well and both have a stare down “I want to kill him.”

“How about this, I get him first, then you get him second?” Sam negotiates and Molly is a little weirded out with them. What is going on?

“No, you’re going to tear him to shreds before I have a go at him.” Hector counters and Molly looks away to hold the bride of her near non-existent nose. She peeks at Jackson and Brandon to see them talking amongst themselves as well. They’re too quiet to hear, but by the way they look; frustrated and frankly pissed off in general, Molly can tell they’re talking about this guy as well.

“Get the fuck off my bar!” A cup is thrown at Sam and Hector, who both yell and fall off to the floor, Molly moves her legs so Hector doesn’t hit her, she looks over to the side door and sees the Boss in his glory, a bit of blood here and there, but it’s minute. Molly gives a silent sigh of relief.

“Ow…” Alexander is laughing slightly at the pain as Molly takes him to his room.

His Boss shakes his head at the ridiculousness of that kid. He has asked Molly to look after him for a while in his room, one; to make sure he doesn’t fuck up his stitches, and two; to make sure he doesn’t go anywhere.

He looks over to the rest of his employees and observes them.

Jackson is holding his face and pacing. He’s mumbling under his breath while two hands resummon drumsticks over and over. The Boss can see a strange thing happening with Jackson, his eyes look off under his hands. He figures it is stress or anger.

Brandon is sitting on the floor, crossed legged and leaning his upper body down in front of him, to the point his elbows are touching the floor. He’s holding his mouth closed as he’s growling. His fur is frisking. His tail is up and twitching. There is no denying that’s he’s holding back from going ape shit.

Hector is standing silently, watching Jackson pace. There is something off about him. He’s _too_ silent. Boss knows that Hector is naturally quiet, but his silence is something that gives him chills. His eyes… his eyes are in slits. His stare on Jackson isn’t lighting up, like he’s distracting himself.

Sam is working quickly on the counter, sanding the wood down to get rid of the scratches. His hands are moving insanely fast, and it’s obvious he is also holding himself from going nuts. And he it’s like he’s not seeing what he’s doing, Boss can see Sam’s eyes in slits as well and just staring down at the counter as he works. His claws are coming out, and Boss is pretty sure he’s going to further damage his bar.

“Alright, stop that. You’re going to damage it more!” Boss takes the sand paper away from the cat and shoos him off to the side. He looks down at the damage and can’t see any more scratches, but there’s a slight dip in the wood. He sighs and figures he’ll re-oil the counter later that night.

Boss looks over to the boys and they’re all silent, looking at him and are getting more agitated by the second.

He sighs and leans on the bar. He holds his nose and rakes the same hand through his hair. He needs to make the decision before they do something stupid. He looks to the boys and sees them ready to leave.

“Be back before 2am.” At his words, all four of them rush out the tavern.

Boss stays quiet and hops the bar to find the oil, hearing an ominous howl in the night.

“Did it hurt?” Molly asks as she shuts the door, Alexander is hanging onto her to keep himself standing. He spies Oli on his perch, sleeping, so much relief… he doesn’t want frantic raven cuddles at the moment.

“You know I’m a wuss…” Alexander gives a small laugh as Molly helps him head over to the bed. He falls on his back and groans at the sudden burst of dull pain, sitting up and rubbing near his wound “fucking hell…”

“Easy there, tiger.” Molly giggles and cuddles up next to him. Alexander wraps an arm around her waist to pull her up, they both fall off to the side in a tangled mess with her added weight.

Both laugh and enjoy their embraces.

Then they hear a howl.

“What was that?” Molly sits up and looks over to the window.

Alexander sits up as well, albeit slower, but he looks over. He knows that howl.

He groans and falls back, ignoring the pain, and hides his face in a pillow. He should have never told his mates what Richard looked like… “that’s Brandon.”

“Really?” Molly lies down with him and cuddles up to his side.

“Yeah… my guess is that the rest of them are going after that prick…” Alexander looks up at Molly when she pulls the pillow away. He gives a smile “They’re really protective.”

“I think I can tell.” Molly holds Alexander up to set his head on her shoulder.

“You would not believe what we all do when one of us is hurt, it’s phenomenal…” Alexander laughs and pulls Molly over him, the dull feeling in his chest is going away only slightly, but he can tolerate it in order to cuddle.

“How far do you go?” Molly nuzzles her face in his chest and Alexander holds in his giggle, her hair is tickling his skin.

“Well… we’re all…” Alexander can’t think of the word. Is there a word to describe how they react? “Different…”

Four silhouettes are in front of a small run down warehouse, two are on all fours while the other two are standing straight.

The first four-legged creature is a canine, large in size and fur that appears rough. Large red eyes staring onward and his snout open, drool dripping out.

The second is a dark feline creature, large claws and a sleek form. Narrow blue eyes with thin black pupils are glaring on ward. A small growl can be heard.

There’s a spider standing above both creatures. What seems to be four orange eyes are glowing as he keeps two hands on the creatures, keeping them back. There are strange sticks in his other two hands.

The final figure is standing behind the spider. He’s not seen as easily. Just a shadow…

All are giving off a deadly vibe. Imminent danger is ahead…

There are demons and imps standing outside the warehouse warily, staring at the four, unsure of what they are.

One is brave enough to step forward, a small imp. He managed to get close enough to get a better look at all of the strangers.

Before he could get a chance to speak, the silhouettes act.

“Jackson’s the worst of us.” Alexander laughs and sits up, Molly sits next to him and waits for him to finish up “I mean, it’s funny! He’s the friendliest out of all five of us! But…”

Alexander looks down at Molly and sees her tilting her head in confusion. She shoves his arm slightly to get him to continue.

He smiles “There’s a reason why no one fights the drummer.”

The imp yells when a drumstick gets impaled into his eye, his scream is silenced when the blunt of the other drumstick is jabbed into his throat.

The imp falls to the ground and Jackson rushes in with his now bloodied drumsticks, jabbing the next demon in the abdomen and kicking him in the balls before stabbing another chest. He pulls his drumsticks out and jabs each demon in the ear before punching them off.

The other three have rushed in as well and Jackson twirls his drumsticks, awaiting his next opponent.

“Hector has a strange way of dealing with things.” Alexander plays with one of Molly’s hands, the rest of her hands are petting him; his back, his hair, his arm. They’re enjoying themselves “He doesn’t like getting himself dirty, so to speak.”

“What does that mean?” Molly is curious. She knows that Hector is introverted as he is, but not eager to _get dirty_? And Alexander makes it sound so exciting.

“He… okay, don’t tell him I told you this.” Alexander leans in, grasping Molly’s hand in his, and he speaks in a soft whisper “Hector hates blood.”

There’s a loud noise of battle cries as Hector worms his way around the corpses and spilt blood on the concrete.

A few imps come over and he avoids their blows, dodging punches and kicks before he’s had enough.

He slugs one offender in the face and shit-whips another away from him. The cracks he heard don’t really concern him.

He looks back to the others and sees them having fun with the other foes. He turns his attention ahead of him.

This is only the beginning.

“What about Brandon?” Molly’s on Alexander’s stomach and reaching up to caress part of his chest.

Alexander likes this, it tickles and Molly’s soft body is on his. He answers with a small laugh as some of Molly’s hair brushes on his soft skin “He’s a bit more hands on, he likes a good biff.”

Molly stops. This makes Alexander sad. He looks down and sees Molly looking confused. She clears her throat seeing him stare at her with equal confusion “I’m sorry?”

“He likes to fight.” Alexander emphasise with his hands, giving small punches in the air “hands on. He will not back down.”

A shrill yell is heard as the remaining demon runs back into base. His heart his pounding, blood running cold yet still pumping in a frantic beat as he fears for his life.

He’s suddenly tackled down and his shriek is silenced with a bite to the throat.

Brandon shakes his head and rips out the demon’s windpipe. He spits out the meat and growls as he spies another demon.

He knocks the pathetic living corpse below him to the side, eyeing the demon that is now running away. He crouches down and growls as the demon turns a corner.

He lifts his head and howls before kicking off to start another chase.

“Oh! Sam! Sam… oh, fuck, Sam’s going to go ballistic.” Alexander groans and hides his face under a pillow.

“I’m sure he’s not going to…” Molly laughs slightly as she uncovers his face, she frowns seeing him look serious.

“Sam…” Alexander sighs and sits himself up carefully next to Molly, she holds him by the waist as he rubs near his stab. “He takes vengeance seriously…”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Richard hisses as he packs up his goods. This is bad. He has no idea who these fuckwits are but he knows that they mean business. Did he anger a rival gang or something?

He grabs a gun and hurries off to the exit before freezing when the doors close.

There’s a loud meow and Richard looks around. There’s another one and it echoes off the walls.

He sees a shadow to the side and fires a bullet.

There’s a hiss. Did he hit it?

What _is_ it? Obviously, it’s a cat, but what the fuck?

There’s a growl and Richard fires a few bullets behind him, the shadow jumps around and hides in the dark again.

Richard pants, feeling a little freaked out. He needs to get out of here.

He sprints to the door and only manages to grab the handle before he’s swatted away. Something sharp had scratched him away, leaving pain in his abdomen.

Richard falls on his back and groans, he holds his stomach and yells out to let the pain off. He flinches hearing clicks on the concrete, and shivers seeing a large feline body approaching. Claws clinking on the ground.

Blue eyes pierce into his soul and he yells as it goes for his neck.

“They must be furious.” Molly comments as she gently unwraps Alexander’s bandages. There’s a slight red or discolouration, and she knows that means the bandaging needs to be changed and that her boyfriend’s wound needs to be cleaned and dried.

“Yeah, so they’re most likely going to rough him up… I don’t think they’d kill him.” Alexander is in a little denial about this though. Sure, his mates probably won’t kill him, there’s really nothing other than angel weaponry that can kill a demon. Yeah… they’re going to beat him until he’s black and blue for the next month probably. Maybe even worse…

Alexander suddenly jerks away from the antiseptic and Molly holds him still. He sighs and clenches his fists in the bed sheets.

“You’ve talked about the rest. What about you?” Alexander looks at

“I probably would try to- you know, but…” Alexander stumbles on his words. He would try to… _kill_ that bastard. Fuck- _He wanted to kill him then and there._ He brought him so much pain. So much fear. Practically played him like a fiddle when they were alive… those were times that he’s still not proud of… But that’s not really what Molly’s asking… “Well… I get angry. And I don’t really remember what happens…”

“Is that it?” Molly asks a little sceptical and Alexander can’t blame her. He winces when she wraps his wound.

“Well, I’ve been told I react a bit too… much?” Alexander adds nervous with a smile “You know I’m an emotional little bitch, Molly. I get angry, too.”

Sam purrs as he hops some surface to surface, coming out of the hideout. He lands on the concrete drive way outside, completely satisfied with what he had done. He sits on all fours and grooms his bloodied paws, the taste of _that_ _prick’s_ blood is actually not half bad, considering he somehow made it so far without getting an STI or any other disease. Pure white begins to show again underneath his coat of black and red as his mates come over.

“Where is he?” Hector asks and flicks some blood off his jacket. It’s annoying him. He was never one for getting dirty on the job, all the incidents after… what he did in the living – that was on others. Not his fault for blood. He despises it.

“Ran away when I wasn’t looking.” Sam informs as he stands up, he had moved onto his face. The blood around his mouth is starting to bug him “I scratched him pretty bad, I doubt he’d survive with them… cannibals and all, you know?”

“Even if there is a possibility of him dying, only an angel weapon can kill a demon.” Brandon growls them he stalks over, he shifts into his normal form and stretches his legs back to get more comfortable in his fur. He looks over the battleground of flesh and pumping heart beating their last drops of blood. These idiots came at them with Angel weaponry, Brandon and his mates were lucky to get a hold of some before more came out “Bastard’s lucky you didn’t have any.”

“We should get going.” Jackson sighs and he rubs his face. He managed to get blood on his cheeks. Two of his hands still have his sticks, stained with blood. He laughs slightly as he lifts them up “I think I need new sticks.”

“Can’t you just summon new ones?” Brandon asks as they all walk off back home. After this night of _fun_ , they need rest.

“I can summon _these_ ones. I don’t just make them out of thin air!” Jackson moans dramatically and puts all his arms down. His eyes had calmed down, completely normal. For now, at least.

The door opens to shine a dull light onto the bed. Both Molly and Alexander are sleeping.

Under the covers, both are cuddling each other, Alexander spooning Molly, and are surrounded by pillows.

The shine seemed to wake up one little resident, however. A small whine comes from the perch and Oli opens his wings, directing his attention to the door. He drops a few times before he’s shushed silently, finger to mouth in a silent signal.

Oli ruffles his feather and gets comfortable again on his perch and fluffs up as he sleeps again.

The door closes and the Boss gives a sigh. That kid gets into more trouble than a random ass fucking clown in a park full of children.

He walks back into the tavern and pauses seeing the rest of his employees standing by the entrance, bringing in blood. That’s going to stain… he’ll take care of that too, it seems.

The boys seem exhausted, he notices.

Sam and Brandon have the most blood on them it seems, nothing he’s surprised about, if he’d be honest. They seem fine, for what they’ve done. Taking it well, or better than he first expected. Sam’s taking it a bit better than Brandon, who looks a little ruffled, but otherwise, both are “fine”.

Jackson still seems to be having that headache of his, how peculiar. He’s not taking it well, obviously. Boss notes that he may need to give Jackson a decent amount of days off in order to cool off.

Hector is surprisingly cleaner than he expected, but Boss knows better than to question it. It’s the quiet ones you need to watch out for.

Boss sighs and motions them through the door “Hose yourselves down and go to sleep.”


	21. Chapter 17

Today…

Today is not a good day.

Alexander rakes a hand through his hair to calm himself down as he leans on a table in a lobby. He fucked up… he fucked up big time… but he’s so goddamn angry!

It’s been weeks since the accident! Yet, everyone still thinks he’s injured! He’s fine! The wound is literally scarred over and he feels no pain! But no! No! No! No! He got fucking stabbed in the chest, he needs to take it easy, no one wants him to strain himself and get injured!

He’s not some weak little brat! He only got stabbed! And this is Hell! He has no choice but to heal fast, but _no_ , that’s not what-

“Hey, Alexander!” Charlie comes out of nowhere and silently scares the shit out of Alexander. Her smile is big and wide, makes him wonder why she’s in such a good mood. Why is she always in a good mood? She comes up to him excitedly “You’re okay! When you phoned and said you were fit to work I didn’t think you actually meant it!”

“Of course I’d mean it, Love, you know I don’t like being cooped up inside.” Alexander smiles down at her, hiding his annoyance. He wanted to work today… a certain someone didn’t want him to… Alexander pulls his hair. He should stop thinking about that…

“Umm… what’s with…” Charlie is motioning around her neck and Alexander frowns. Damn it, it is noticeable.

Alexander sighs and pulls at the collar around his neck. It’s a purple leather collar, standard issue, easy on the skin. It has a d-clip, too, black and small enough to not really be noticed at first glance, but it fits its purpose. The collar stays in place like a regular collar or belt, but it’s difficult for the wearer to take it off… which is a reason why he took it with him…

This was a sort of peace keeper from this morning… Something he didn’t necessarily agree to it but it was better than not… Alexander just doesn’t associate it with anything good at the moment.

“It’s a peace keeper.” He explains in a tone that explicitly states that he does not wish to talk about it.

Alexander is busy clipping hedges. This one is supposed to be shaped like a normal curved hedge, possibly shaped like a snake or something else.

He’s still on edge…

These past few weeks have been eventful… even if he was under watch of at least one person.

The Rose Of Blasphemy still performs, of course, except Alexander is only present, he doesn’t actually perform, most of the time he’s not on stage. His job now is to hype up the crowd. Sure, he sings sometimes when the crowd wants it, only songs that don’t really strain him. Not a lot, but it keeps the crowd happy.

But aside from that, the one thing that was prominent was that Alexander was not allowed out of his room for the first week, he had to stay in bed so he wouldn’t strain himself. His Boss made it very clear that he was not to leave until he said so, even making him do some exercises to help with movement so he could get out quicker.

It wasn’t all that bad. He got breakfast, lunch and dinner in bed, including painkillers (which Alexander wasn’t really happy about but he sucked it up).

It was fun for the most part. Getting visited a lot during the day, hanging out more with Jackson.

Jackson had been acting weird. Something happened, and no matter how many times Alexander asked, Jackson wouldn’t tell him. All he can do is just be there for his mate during this time of not being allowed to do anything. Alexander theorises it has something to do with his headaches. And he was worried about them, if Jackson was hurting too, he wanted to know. Soon, though, Jackson got “better”, or to say the least, was able to work, but stuck around a while longer.

In other news, Oli is still getting walked. Either Brandon, Hector or Sam take him out, walk him around, return him and immediately Alexander gets cuddles. Ever since the day after returning with Molly, Oli had recognised that Alexander was injured again. Cuddles and scritches.

But in those first few weeks of being on bedrest and “relaxation”, Alexander had spent most of his time with his love.

Molly had been with him for most of these weeks. Tending to his wound, helping him walk around, feeding him, following him, helping him up and down stairs. All things just to help him out, and so his mates could keep working.

Then Molly became… overbearing.

Alexander sighs and stops cutting the hedge, checking the overall shape. He moves onto the next hedge, thinking back to the recent weeks he had been in Molly’s care.

She, to say the least, became a little controlling when Alexander’s recovery was on the line.

Controlled what he ate – when he ate for that matter. No longer allowed anything too sugary or salty, which is bullshit because he can’t enjoy his favourite meals. Granted, British food is awful compared to other cuisines, but still.

When he could venture out of his room. Alexander was no longer allowed outside just to get air, he needed _a reason_ , like someone taking him out.

She made his mates clean themselves so not to spread an infection. It wouldn’t be that ridiculous if his stitches weren’t covered twenty-four-fucking-seven.

No alcohol, that’s a given.

He wasn’t even allowed to pick out his clothes. He spilt something on his chest one time and Molly had made the rule in case he got an infection. Again, ridiculous.

She even gave Oli regular baths. Twice a day, everyday. It doesn’t bother Alexander that much, actually, he likes the idea, however, she uses this weird powder afterwards that just spreads all over his room. It’s supposed to “keep him clean”.

It’s making a fucking mess in his room, that’s what it is.

It just got so bad that Alexander couldn’t take it anymore! But he couldn’t just flat out tell her she was making him pissed off by _caring_ for him! No! That would have made him an arse!

No! He did it in the most-

Alexander needs to snap out of it… it’s getting annoying…

Alexander sits in the living room during his break, he cut himself and he’s not looking forward to seeing anyone during this time of emotional drama. He gives himself a depressing smile, he guesses Molly was right after all…

He really fucked up, he couldn’t have just kept it in and tolerated like usual, and it was for the best. He shouldn’t have gotten annoyed in the first place. Molly was just worried and scared, and he sees that _now_ of all times…

“Oi, Garden nut, why’s Molly blowing up my phone?” Angel’s sudden appearance doesn’t really shock Alexander. It would make sense that Molly would go to Angel for comfort. Alexander was horrible to her.

“We had a fight.” Alexander sighs. He’s still not proud of it. It was basically a screaming match.

“About?” Angel sits next to him. Alexander figures Angel wants details before killing him. A fair way of dealing with this matter.

_“You’re going out!?”_

_“Yes, I’m going out.” Alexander groaned and continues packing his tools. He was annoyed. He got the green light from his boss and he needed to work on the Hotel’s garden. He needed money “I need to go work.”_

_“No you don’t need to!” Molly pulled him back the instant he finished packing “What if you get hurt again!?”_

_“I’m not going to get hurt.” He reassured and had gently taken her hands off him. She pulled him back in with two more._

_If Alexander paid attention to her expression, he would have seen how scared Molly was. But in the heat of annoyance, he only heard her voice as he tried not to rip her hands off him “Well- no you’re not going!”_

_Alexander pet her hands and reassures her “I got the all clear.”_

_“I don’t care!” Molly pulled him along back to his room and Alexander had to put his foot down._

_“Well I do!” Alexander got out of her grasp and turned to her, pointing out the obvious “Molly, I have a job!”_

_“So do I, but I know when I should be working!” Molly yelled and held her face, moaning out of frustration “I swear to god, you need a collar and leash…”_

_“A collar and leash? For work?” Alexander’s sarcasm was loud and his infuriation was practically dripping off his breath._

_Molly hadn’t seemed to like his tone and she yelled “To keep you from hurting yourself again!”_

_“I’m not going to hurt myself when I work in a garden!” Alexander yelled back. This was ridiculous, “worst case scenario, rose thorns will cut me!”_

_“What if you get jumped?!” Molly followed him as he made his way to the Tavern’s side exit._

_“I’m not going to get jumped!” Alexander groaned out and avoided getting grabbed again. He turned around to face her to give her his full attention, frustration wouldn’t quite explain how he felt during this time “could you please stop being a controlling, overbearing bitch for one minute?!”_

_“Excuse me?!” That set her off. Alexander didn’t back down when Molly stepped toward him and poked a finger in his chest, yelling louder “Maybe when you’re not as defenceless as a baby, I might stop worrying about you!”_

_“I’m not defenceless! I got fucking distracted and he stabbed me!” Alexander yelled back, swatting her hand away, and had to bite back that urge to… grow out. He saw only a slight lining of violet lining his vision “you saw me pinning him!”_

_“I saw you get stabbed!” She countered and grabbed his arm. Alexander tried to pull it back, but she wouldn’t budge. She pulled at the bag his tools were in “You’re not going out! You still have bandaging!”_

_“For fucks sake! Shut up!” Alexander rips his arm away and took the bag back. He was gritting his teeth when he growled at her “I’m fine!”_

_“You’re not fine! You still have bandaging!” Molly repeated her point and she screamed “You still need someone to watch over you, you fricking son of a bitch!”_

_“I’ll put on the damn collar if it shuts you up!” Alexander screamed back and snatched the collar from her, tightening it around his neck as he stomped his way through his path, Molly was following him. He did not have time to deal with her shit. He was late. The moment he clasped the collar on, he swivels back around to face her, feeling more dramatic and pissed off as he yelled, “there! Happy!? Part of your plan to fucking keep me in line is working! Now stop mothering me! I need to go!”_

_“No! I’m not happy!” Molly walked in front of him and managed to stop him in his tracks “I don’t want you to be a dumbass!”_

_Alexander didn’t know why, but he took major offense to being called that name “Oh? I’m a dumb arse now? What happened to treating me like a baby!?”_

_“Would you do move on from that?!” Molly yelled and Alexander managed to win the side step battle, passing her with ease while she stood there, upset._

_“How can I? I’m apparently a dumb arse!” Alexander called out his last words to her for the day. They were out of anger and pent up frustration._

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Angel sighs and holds his face. This kid… is a fucking idiot! Snapping like that? Because his sister was “overbearing”? He got stabbed in the chest and he expected everyone just to sweep it under the rug? Sure! This is Hell! But no one heals that quickly!

And they, as in _both of them_ , Molly and Angel, saw him get stabbed! It’s not like Molly’s going to let that go! How could she? He nearly died too! If they weren’t there that night, who knows what would have gone down?

Alexander nearly died. Molly’s boyfriend nearly died. _In front of her_. Of course she’d lose a screw! Who wouldn’t?!

By fucking god- Angel needs to tell Alexander this. Maybe then he’d actually think.

Angel turns his attention back to Alexander, mouth open, ready to yell.

He stops himself.

Alexander looks… dull. He’s slouched in his seat and looking down, playing with the collar around his neck almost lovingly.

His hair is shielding his face in a weird way, hiding his eyes, but Angel can see his wavering frown. If Angel didn’t know any better, he would think Alexander would start crying if he hadn’t started already.

Angel huffs out a sigh and leans back on the couch, texting Molly to calm her down. She’s been texting him, ranting about what happened. She’s been acting weirder than he first thought ever since Alexander got stabbed in front of them. Like she’s scared.

And Angel doesn’t want his sister to be scared.

“It was our first fight…” Angel glances over hearing Alexander’s gloomy tone, paying attention albeit reluctantly but paying attention nonetheless. There’s not a waver as he talks, but that doesn’t guarantee that he’s not crying. “I said all those mean things to her… I won’t be surprised if she wants to break up with me…”

Then Alexander stays silent.

Not a word.

Not a sound.

Then there’s the slightest tiny, doleful whimper.

Angel groans and throws his head back. This fucking heart string puller!

“Look, cool down, get some time away…” Angel grunts and rubs Alexander on the back, an action which makes the deer jolt slightly before calming down. Angel’s affection moves onto a friendly brush of fingers through Alexander’s hair as the deer wipes his eyes “This is a warning. okay? Make up later, I don’t care how long, but if I get word that Molly’s crying, you will _not_ be found.”

Alexander decided to take Angel’s warning and make up with Molly. It will either end in disaster or the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and it is obvious which outcome is more likely. But he needs help for this to have that slight chance of prevailing. Alexander needs to talk to the woman that could possibly save his relationship.

Niffty.

Sure, it may seem strange, but Niffty is the type of character to know about this stuff, Alexander has found romance novels by her work space before.

And in his break, she was easy to find, dusting away some bookshelves near the living room, on the other side of the hallway.

Alexander walks over and fiddles with his fingers. He needs to think of a way to communicate his stress, not just an unhealthy “I fucked up this morning, I need help”, that would just look bad.

Alexander crouches beside her and Niffty notices him. She smiles up at him and greets as she continues to dust “Hi!”

“Hello, Love, I was wondering if I could ask of you some advice?” Alexander tilts his head slightly away from the dusting so Niffty can do her thing. But she pauses. She places the duster down and looks back up at him. This is kind of confusing to Alexander, but he figures that she knows something is wrong.

“What advice?” Niffty reaches over and begins playing with Alexander’s hair. He doesn’t mind, her hands are tiny and it doesn’t hurt.

“Well… it relates to my relationship…” Alexander tugs some of his hair and balances himself with his other hand. He glances over to her and sees her looking confused. He closes his eyes “I fucked up this morning.”

“How so?”

“Well… I said some nasty things in an argument…” Alexander feels Niffty’s hand pulls his hair slightly.

“Just apologise.” Niffty states and she moves back onto dusting. Alexander watches as she zooms around. Was that it?

Maybe the others can help out?

“You what?” Alexander did not expect that to come from Crymini. Or the stares from Vaggie and Charlie…

He’s meeting up with the girls in one of the dance rooms Charlie up and readied. It’s good exercise, he admits, but not for him. He does have two left feet sometimes.

Niffty wasn’t much help, she’s a romancer. The perfect relationship in her perspective is constant love. No room for arguments. But he liked her idea about coming up to Molly’s doorstep. Maybe when it rains… that’s too dramatic.

But now to the subject at hand…

“Well…” Alexander tugs his hair nervously.

“No, don’t say anything…” Vaggie holds her nose while Charlie smiles nervously. Crymini just looks plain confused.

“So, you two had a fight?” Charlie asks and Alexander nods “About her being… overbearing?”

“Yeah… stupid, right?” Alexander can only smile weakly; it sounds so bad… “I really fucked up…”

“Oh my god, celebrities _are_ the worst at relationships…” Crymini whimpers and hides her face.

“Hello, Husk…” Alexander sighs as he sits at the bar. After that… he needs a drink.

Husk serves him a standard beer like usual and they sit in silence.

Alexander swigs a bit from the bottle and looks over to a clock. His break is nearly over… And so far he’s has no idea what to do. Sure, the girls are helpful, but they kept sprouting forgiveness and how Molly will forgive him… it’s nonsense… wishful thinking, but nonsense…

Alexander leans down and continues to drink. He doesn’t know what to do…

“If you want to get on your girl’s good side, just don’t piss her off.” Husk suddenly advises, making Alexander sit up immediately in confusion. Husk continues to drink. Alexander smiles a bit and finishes up his drink.

Alexander is raking some leaves when he gets a chill down his spine. Something is not right. He’s being watched… but by who…?

He holds the rake down and straightens up, stretching his spine, to look around behind him. The garden is beautiful as always… but he knows someone else is near… He just doesn’t know where they are…

Alexander turns his attention back to the task at hand, but he’s met with red eyes.

He jumps back, giving a yell, falling back on his arse from getting startled so. He looks up at a smug looking Alastor.

“Fucking hell- don’t do that!” Alexander yells and holds his heart, feeling it go out of control. God damn it, not today… Not today, Alastor…

“I hear you’re having lady troubles.” Alastor muses and steps around Alexander to let him stand up. Alexander dusts himself off as he looks over to Alastor “I wish to give advice.”

He what? “I thought you-”

“I simply want to advise you that you shouldn’t wait.” Alastor tuts and walks off.

Alexander watches him leave the garden in confusion. Shouldn’t wait? What does that mean? Did he mean to just get on with it?

What an insensitive bastard.

Alexander cuts himself again, this time some part on his arm. Maybe he should call it quits for today… he needs to make it right with Molly sometime today… this is a good opportunity.

“Charlie! I’m leaving early!” He announces as he walks out of the garden. He’ll tend to the scratch later. He pulls the collar slightly as he looks around to locate Charlie, she’s spotted on the stairs look down at him with a little concern.

“What? Why?” She asks as she steps down, Alexander shrugs and points to his chest.

“Not feeling too well, unfortunately, Love.” He explains and waves at her, she waves back with a perturbing smile. Oh dear, he’s worrying her now, too.

“This has nothing to do with…” Charlie hangs on her question as Alexander walks off. He knows what she wants to say.

“I just feel off, Love, nothing to it.” Alexander assures and steps backward out of the exit, he gives a salute before heading out.

Alexander gulps in anxiousness, the pit of his stomach is sore. No, not sore, but something else. Is this what fear feels like? True fear? Or is he just nervous? Guilty? Maybe all of the above…

He looks down at the bouquet he made. It’s a simple bouquet this time. Just five different flowers, totalling in around fifteen individual flowers. Pink Roses, White Orchids, Spring Crocus, Buttercups and Purple Hyacinth. It fits what he’s trying to convey… but there’s an undeniable feeling that just screams it’s not going to work. He’s scared that feeling will be right.

Alexander lifts a hand to knock on the door. It’s shaking.

Goddamn, this should be easy… just a simple apology and leave if she’s still mad at him. Oh god, if she’s still mad…

He’s probably over thinking this…

He quickly knocks on the door three times and mentally screams at himself for it, pulling his hand behind his back and practically shivers in the spot. This feeling won’t go away. And, all honesty, he wouldn’t blame Molly for not wanting to accept his apology.

Alexander jumps slightly when the door opens and he looks down when he meets Molly’s eyes. He clears his throat nervously and flicks his eyes back up to see Molly’s. She… doesn’t look happy… but she’s not mad either… that should be a good sign…

“U-um… Hello Molly…” Alexander stutters and he rubs the arm holding the bouquet. He looks away slightly out of nervousness. Is it nervousness? Or fear? Maybe a bit of both? “I-I… I came to apologise.”

Her silence is making him even more nervous. Or scared. Fuck it, he’s scared.

“I… don’t expect you to forgive me for… yelling at you and saying… all those insults. But, I’m sorry.” Alexander uses his spare hand to stop the hand holding the bouquet from shaking. He wants to put on a smile but he can’t. He can do so, it’s easy… but he just can’t seem to push himself to… “I don’t want to make an excuse for my behaviour… because if I do, that will just make this worse than it already is… I just want you to know that-”

Molly suddenly pulls him inside by his collar, choking him slightly as he’s then slammed on her wall.

Alexander gulps and holds the bouquet to his chest as he looks down at Molly. She’s closing the door with one hand while the other three are pinning him. She’s not looking at him.

He stays silent as she uses her free hand to hold his neck, right on the clip of the collar.

He shivers when she looks up into his eyes. He can’t read them. It’s like she’s expressionless, but at the same take projecting so much feeling onto him…

She curls her fingers under the collar and pulls Alexander down, he swallows down his protests and lets her control him. His face is close to hers. Alexander sees the vast amount of black, sucking in all light to produce such beautiful eyes, gleaming pink in the light.

“Don’t say a word.” Alexander bites his lip at how serious her order sounds. She’s bound to be mad. Why wouldn’t she be? He yelled her for basically caring for him. He must have come off as so ungrateful… and it’s horrible. Just snapping like that…

She kisses him.

Alexander isn’t processing what is happening. She’s… kissing him? Yeah, he can feel her lips on his, but… Molly wouldn’t kiss him, right? Not after what he did and said…

Why?

Molly pulls back and Alexander just stares into her eyes.

“I’m sorry too.” She whispers and pecks his lips again. Why would Molly be sorry? Why is she apologising? It was Alexander that lost his temper…

Molly lets go on his arms but keeps a hand on the collar as she gently takes the bouquet from him. Alexander pulls at some of his hair as he watches Molly holds the bouquet against her chest, smelling the flowers and overall embracing the combination.

It’s making him a bit nervous.

“Let’s put this behind us.” Molly lets the collar go and instead wraps her arm around Alexander’s waist to pull him along. Alexander smiles slightly as Molly pulls him along, into her living room, dining room and kitchen combination. He likes this room, it’s practical. She places the flowers on the coffee table and drags Alexander to pin corner him on the couch. Alexander feels his face warm up and he curls his hair in his fingers, looking down at Molly and her smile… he loves that smile… “We’ll have fun tonight, okay? We can both tell each other how sorry we are.”

“Oh… okay, darling…” Alexander holds himself from stuttering. He’s happy.


	22. Chapter 18

It’s been a while since Alexander and Molly made up, and life’s been going smoothly. Of course, Alexander had accepted his fate and wore the collar for a while longer, but otherwise, everything’s fine.

And the day Alexander finally got his stitches out, he was free! Free to work in the Tavern again, free to work at the hotel, free to roam unsupervised! It was glorious!

And everything mellowed out in the end, no one is worried about Alexander, and he’s stayed out of trouble. For the most part. He’s not getting stabbed.

His mates have all calmed down, Jackson especially. He got over what was bothering him, but he does occasionally hug Alexander a little _too_ long, but otherwise, he’s okay for the most part. Alexander summed it up to his near death affecting him really bad as well, and not the possible murder of Richard. Alexander doubts he’s actually dead, but at least he’d be too roughed up to come back.

But now, Boss lets Alexander work with his mates now! Same hours, same maid job! Less supervision! And he has more plants in his mini garden out back! It’s mellowed out a lot, but that’s what Alexander’s happy about, getting a bit spoiled with more plants to care for.

It’s been so mellow that Molly is now just casually visiting when she’s off work. Both at the Tavern and the Hotel. She mainly visits the Hotel during the day to hang out with Angel and help out in some areas, helping him through rehab and maybe getting along with everyone else too.

She sometimes visits Alexander when he’s in the zone. Often being affectionate, teasing him, watching him work, or the original “wait for him to finish then jump him” shtick. And Alexander loves it. Ever since they got over their argument, they’ve just gotten stronger.

Alexander had calmed down his edginess for her and Molly had eased worrying about him getting hurt. A little agreement they had between them both, if one of them is hurting, they’ll go to the other and seek comfort and help. That way they don’t do anything they’d regret later.

Like getting stabbed.

 _Twice_.

Now that Molly’s visiting more, she’s getting along with everyone, getting acquainted and getting on friendly terms. Especially with Charlie.

The two got along well enough, talking on and on about performing on stage.

And eventually, that somehow escalated in the idea of a double date.

The double date is in a pretty swanky bar on the east side of the Pentagram. This bar serves some of the best meals for evenings, and the week nights are to die for. Unfortunately, that metaphor is not as metaphorical as it seems. So, all four of them booked a reservation on a Wednesday.

Its main theme is 1940s.

The floors and walls are dark walls, but opposing each other in war. The floor is clean and free of interference while the wall is covered with portraits of the owners and of hell’s old landscapes.

Bright white crystal chandeliers illuminate the entire room as they’re placed strategically to light the bar.

Small round tables for four are speckles around a stage, fitted with white table sheets with dark swirls on the rims, pure silver utensils lines at each chair wrapped in napkins, and wine glasses in the centre, ready for champagne and meals.

The bar itself is made of mahogany, polished to a bright sheen. The outside shell on display to the world has carvings of wings and fire, almost in conflict with one another. There are many bottles of wine, beer, champagne and whiskey on display on the shelves, hidden behind a dirty glass cabinet. Even the bar stools, made with mahogany as well, had the elegant designs of wings and fire.

To keep up with the modern times, however, the stage is equipped with a karaoke set, mainly the microphones, speaker set, cd player, and there’s a jukebox. It’s not up to date with modern times, but it’s close enough.

This bar is also known to have a strict dress code.

Alexander is the only one wearing a suit. A basic pair of black pants, black dress shoes, a white undershirt with black suspenders, a black jacket, and a silly purple fedora. He thought this outfit was alright before he saw Molly’s outfit and felt a little upstaged. It’s not as fancy as the girls’ dresses, but it’s something.

Charlie is wearing a victory suit with a fur coat. The blouse of the suit is a standard button up, mainly red in colour, with her breast pockets coloured light in white along with the buttons. The rim of her blouse is black and this correlates with the collar. Her skirt is also red and reaches down, just skimming before her knees. Her gloves are red and her left is kept in place with a watch. Her heels are low and a pure white. The fur coat she is wearing is white, small and flows down to her middle, going no further. Holding the coat up is a silver chain hanging around Charlie’s neck.

Vaggie is wearing a short sleeved cocktail dress with her collar and shoulders revealed. The overall colour for the dress is a silver-grey, however it has a pink ribbon tied around her waist, forming a bow on her back. She has on pink gloves and knee length socks to give her a little more colour. Vaggie is also wearing heels, but black and lacy. Her bow on her head is also out of her hair as it is let down. Around her neck is a pink jewelled necklace on a silver chain.

And Molly’s wearing a particularly sexy, sleeveless pin up dress. Alexander admits, he shouldn’t make a comment on how it looks on her, but she’s beautiful. Molly was living in the 40s before she died, so it would make sense she’d go all out with the dress code. Her dress is white polka dotted with bright pink spots and rimmed with black. The ribbon around her waist is tight and emphasises her curves and lifts the already short skirt. The skirt goes down to her mid thighs and in all honesty, Alexander thinks the cheeky split in the fabric to let her leg out is something he favours. She’s wearing black gloves going down to be elbow. Her peek toe heels are black and the white stockings hide her actual feet.

Alexander is outranked by the girls by a long shot.

All four of them had a blast. Talking about recent events and watching the entertainment on stage, eating their meals, playing with their food, talking some more.

Soon, hours went by and they were having fun.

Then the alcohol got served.

Turns out, Charlie is a light weight as well, not as bad as Alexander, but a light weight nonetheless. She’s a happy drunk, but still emotional. She let out tears for the napkin “cranes” she made because she thought they were too ugly, but then cried when she crushed them.

But she’s an easy drunk, thank god. She cheered up with the next drink and became incredibly chatty.

And this fact somehow escalated to both Alexander and Charlie getting up on stage and singing with the alcohol’s influence.

“Like Leo in The Revenant, Abel in that Bible bit,” Alexander sings into the microphone and Charlie is humming along with hers. They’re on stage, the remaining demons in the bar are watching them with nothing better to do. He then suddenly growls, “revenge is sweet, isn't it?”

Alexander pops back to normal with a smile, ignoring the bewildered expressions his small audience is giving him.

“I really, really hope for it, I know that it won't fix a thing.” He continues on “A song like this that I could sing for you.”

Charlie is swaying beside him, humming along still.

“All the feels you make me do, a nightmare fucking coming true.” Alexander growls but turns back to normal instantly “I wish I was a lawyer, I would sue you. Sue you, take your dog, take your house, take your shoes, take your heart… Now here comes that singing part.”

Charlie giggles and joins in with him, mumbling along as he takes the lead.

“I'm daydreaming, let me count the ways… How I'll get you, or how I'll make you pay… Babe, I'm hurting! And now you'll feel the same!” Alexander bounces slightly with Charlie “That's my plan, that's my plan, that's my plan.”

“We could do revenge, revenge, revenge, revenge. Together, together, together. We could take revenge, revenge, revenge. Revenge is sweet.” Alexander and Charlie repeat that line again and dance a little, swinging each other as they sing. It’s quite the sight.

“Now here's where girlfriends come in hand, especially those that understand; crime's a crime but listen man, I really cannot give a damn. We've all been through this kind of thing, say the word we make it sting-” Alexander’s voice had steadily become darker before he pops back up with a happy tone “-for him.”

“He can't just get away with it.” Charlie continues for him with a drunken laugh and Alexander gets back into the zone.

“Eye for eye you piece of shit! You treat us like a garbage pit! Let me at him!” Alexander feels angry but not enough to growl.

Charlie butts in and they swing around again “Wait for it, wait for it…”

“Here's that singing part again.” Alexander cackles and he sways along with her, deepening his voice along the way “I'm daydreaming, let me count the ways… How I'll get you, _or how I'll make you pay_ … Babe, I'm hurting and _now you'll feel the same_. That's my plan, that's my plan, that's my plan.”

They both sing along to the chorus and laugh at some points. Their dates are watching, smiling and talking amongst each other. Alexander and Charlie laugh and waves to them, they wave back.

Charlie then steps away from Alexander, stumbling while he laughs and watches as she attempts to rap Eminem’s part of the song. “Wellin’ the b’gnn we fely we’s metto be…”

As Charlie attempts at her rap, Molly and Vaggie are watching with amusement.

“So, how’d you meet the Princess?” Molly turns her eyes from the stage.

“It’s a long story… something that’s not really that fond to look back on.” Vaggie rubs the back of her neck while she watches Alexander laugh on stage and Charlie fall on her knees but continues to sing. She looks to Molly who is just watching her “How’d you meet Alex?”

“Alexander and I met at the tavern.” Molly explains simply “We talked, exchanged numbers and our relationship came soon after.”

“That’s it?” Vaggie was expecting… more.

“Yeah, we started as friends.” Molly swirls her drink with her straw and takes a sip when Charlie’s voice cracks as she “raps”, and Alexander is laughing louder, his voice cracking as well. She smiles “And it simply escalated into a romantic relationship. Nothing too special in regards to… other romantic tales, but it’s special to us.”

“SLUUUUUT!”

Charlie’s screech fills through the air and there is an immediate uproar of laughter from both girls at the table when her voice cracks it the most hilarious way possible.

“Oh my god!” Molly wheezes while Vaggie contains her snorts and giggles behind her hand. Charlie continues to “rap” without a care while Alexander is practically toppled on his knees laughing. Molly breathes in and continues to giggle “Is she usually like this when she’s drunk?”

“You're a whore, you're a whore. This is war.” Charlie mumbles and smiles as Alexander stumbles himself back up “Fellas, ladies.”

“We could do revenge, revenge, revenge, revenge. Together, together, together.” Alexander sings this part of the chorus while he and Charlie sway each other as she rests her voice. She soon joins in. “We could take revenge, revenge, revenge. Revenge is sweet.”

Both stop to laugh and sing louder.

“We could do revenge revenge, revenge, revenge. Together, together, together.” They both practically yell “We could take revenge, revenge, revenge. Revenge is sweet!”

“Fuck yeah!” Charlie screams out to the crowd.

“Fuck no!” Alexander replies just as equally loud.

Both laugh uncontrollably when the song ends.

“Vaggie!” Charlie tackles her girlfriend when she sees her. She’s laughing while Vaggie tries to calm her down.

Alexander is stumbling after her while sipping a complimentary beer, making this his sixth drink. When he sees Molly, he practically brightens up “Molly!”

“Hey, Baby!” Molly lets Alexander hug her tight and she pets his head when he leans it down on her should, distracting him from her taking the bottle away and placing it on the table. “You two had a lot of fun, didn’t you?”

“Ha, yeah…” Alexander nods and hiccups, tickling Molly with the sudden slight movement. He stands back up and smiles dopily “Can we sing again?”

“Yeah!” Charlie cheers and Vaggie smiles at her enthusiasm.

“Maybe later.” Vaggie responds and gets Charlie to sit down at the table, instantly, both drunkards are pouty. “Don’t get pouty, other people need to have a go, too.”

“No one else is on stage…” Alexander mumbles as he reaches for his bottle, Molly sighs, allowing the action as she helps his stand still. She knows he doesn’t want to sit down.

Vaggie and Molly’s plan to keep the two in line had backfired. The minute they looked away, Alexander and Charlie had snuck back on stage to sing yet again.

They’re now half way through the song already and are amazingly still standing despite the absolute banger of a song their singing while their dates listen along at the table.

“Well he loves a little woman, someday he'll make his wife.” Alexander calms down enough to sing this part. Drunkenly, he’s thinking about Molly. He loves her so much, “saving all the overtime for the one love of his life…”

“He ain't worried about tomorrow, 'Cause he just made up his mind! Life's too short for burning bridges.” Charlie roars out and for a moment her horns come out and her smile has pointy teeth. She’s enjoying herself more than she should be at this point. “Take it one day at a time!”

“Oh, he's a working class man!” Alexander yells and laughs as Charlie takes her line seriously.

“Oh, he's a working class man!” Charlie yells equally as loud and smiles, some flames flaring alive.

“She’s not going to burn the place down, right?” Molly asks while watching her man enjoy himself. He looks so happy. But Charlie… Charlie is concerning her.

“No.” Vaggie answers while sipping her drink through the silly straw. She glances to the two on stage “Hopefully they’ll pass out and leaving here will be easier.”

“Hopefully.” Molly watches as the two continue to yell.

“As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and realize there's not much left. 'Coz I've been blastin' and laughin' so long, that-” Alexander had the brilliant idea of singing yet another song! Charlie was down for it, but they had to be quick. Molly and Vaggie tried to stop them, but they were too late, they picked a random song and that’s how they began singing Gansta’s Paradise. “Even my mama thinks that my mind is gone.”

“But I ain't never crossed a man that didn't deserve it.” Charlie continues on and sounds a bit sassy. It’s ridiculous but Alexander finds it hilarious. “Me be treated like a punk you know that's unheard of. You better watch how you're talkin', and where you're walkin'. Or you and your homies might be lined in chalk.”

“I really hate to trip but I gotta, loc. As I grow I see myself in the pistol smoke, fool.” Alexander turns a little preachy while Charlie hangs on him “I'm the kinda G the little homies wanna be like. On my knees in the night, sayin' prayers in the streetlight.”

“Been spendin' most their lives, Livin' in the gangsta's paradise… Been spendin' most their lives, Livin' in the gangsta's paradise…” Both of them yell into the empty crowd of the club. Their dates watch still amused by this. “Keep spendin' most our lives, Livin' in the gangsta's paradise… Keep spendin' most our lives, Livin' in the gangsta's paradise…”

“They got the situation, they got me facin', I can't live a normal life, I was raised by the stripes. So I gotta be down with the hood team.” Charlie gets off of Alexander. There’s an underlying tone in her voice that Alexander can’t put a finger on, but he doesn’t really care. He’s having fun, and so is Charlie, “Too much television watchin' got me chasin' dreams.”

“I'm an educated fool with money on my mind. Got my 10 in my hand and a gleam in my eye.” Alexander watches as Charlie laughs and he pulls her back from falling off the stage. He laughs a bit too in his singing, “I'm a loc'd out gangsta set trippin' banger And my homies is down so don't arouse my anger, fool.”

“Death ain't nothin' but a heartbeat away, I'm livin' life, do or die, what can I say.” Charlie giggles and leans on Alexander again as the music gets a bit louder “I'm twenty-three now, but will I live to see twenty-four? The way things are going I don't know.”

“Tell me why are we, so blind to see…” Alexander and Charlie yell into the void and harmony, somehow still managing to sing as they lean on each other near the edge of the stage “That the one's we hurt, are you and me-”

They fall off the stage.

“I kissed a girl and I liked it!”

Everyone in the car is singing along to the song. It is so far keeping Alexander and Charlie happy, singing away in the car, borderline screaming. It was better than staying at the bar and let them sing another song on stage.

Vaggie and Molly had to practically drag them out of there.

“Taste of her cherry chapstick!”

Molly pulls Alexander to her as he enjoys the song. She’s enjoying it too. They cuddle in their seat while the other two hang off each other.

“I kissed a girl just to try it!” Everyone’s having fun, but then Alexander goes quiet when he says the next part “I hope my boyfriend don't mind it!”

“I mind…” Alexander mumbles and Molly hugs him tighter to her fluff. He smiles when he’s given a kiss to the cheek. Both Charlie and Vaggie continue to sing their hearts away.

Molly nuzzles her head into his shoulder and Alexander wraps his arms around her, hiding his face in her fluff. “You know I won’t kiss anyone but you, babe.”

“Too good to deny it!” Charlie screams and Vaggie is singing with her. Both Molly and Alexander laugh and join in. Both Drunkards are now slurring their words sluggishly “Ain't no big deal, it's innocent!”

“I kissed a girl and I liked it! The taste of her cherry chap stick!” The slurring is worse and Alexander is slumping against Molly. She’s laughing along. Charlie is near passed out too.

“I kissed a girl just to- oh, hey, we’re here.” Vaggie informs and the limousine stops. Both Charlie and Alexander whine softly in their near unconscious states.

“Okay, come on… time for bed, Hun.” Vaggie is practically carrying Charlie with her arm around the Moth’s shoulder and dragging her feet behind.

Molly is helping Alexander along. Somehow, he is not stumbling or dragging his feet, just leaning on Molly and nearly falling over. He may be a lightweight, but at least he can fight it as long as he is. But then he stops walking when they’re in front of the couch and Molly is gently trying to urge him along to at least get a room.

“I don’t wanna go to sleep!” Charlie whines as she’s dragged along. Molly looks over and sees them beginning their hike up the stiars. Alexander is not moving and she doesn’t think she can get him to a room in time.

“Can we crash on the couch?” Molly asks as Alexander is still not budging. This is slowly concerning Molly more and more.

“Yeah, sure, go ahead.” Vaggie calls back and helps Charlie up the stairs.

Molly looks over to the couch and pulls Alexander in its direction, he follows. Molly smiles and figures he’s tired.

She goes to sit down before she’s suddenly swept up by the waist and sitting on Alexander’s lap. He’s hugging her and resting against the pillows. Molly looks up at him in amusement and pokes his chest when he dozes off.

“If you wanted to cuddle, all you have to do was tell me.” Molly teases and leans on Alexander’s chest. She feels him hold her arms and slowly move up to her neck. She shivers slightly when he lifts her chin up.

Looking into his eyes, you could almost mistake his drunkenness for infatuation. He’s smiling dopily and leans down to her ear, whispering softly “I love you Molly.”

Molly giggles and uses her lower pair of arms to slip around his middle and hug him. He’s so sweet.

“Molly… when we get home, can we do something?” Alexander suddenly asks and Molly gives him her full attention, smiling at his adorableness and the cheeky tone in his voice. He leans to her ear again and murmurs his desires, making her blush and gasp slightly.

“You naughty boy!” Molly giggles and lightly taps his shoulder while he smiles cheekily. She raises a hand to rub his cheek and he blinks a little bit tired, but he looks down at her “Maybe when we leave. Now go to sleep.”

Alexander makes a small whining noise but he relents. He passes out shortly after. Molly smiles a bit softer and leans her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes slowly.

“Molls…” Molly opens her eyes when hearing Angel’s voice. What does he want now of all times? She sits up and looks to the stairs where Angel is standing and wearing his robe. He’s leaning on the bannister as he looks over the two. He sighs and crosses his arms “I keep telling you here’s a no-go-”

“Angel, you've never sucked his dick, if that doesn't say something, I don't know what does.” Molly remarks and gives him a tired stare down. It is too goddamn late to deal with this protective bullshit.

Angel just stares back, completely caught off guard by her quick response and utter take down of his comment. He can’t think of anything to reply back with. She has made a point that he cannot dispute.

And walks off back to his room, giving Molly a wave and an air kiss before doing so. She returns them both.

When he’s out of view, Molly sighs and leans her head on Alexander’s chest. Honestly, Angel can be too overprotective… Alexander is not a bad guy. He’s a lightweight that passed out on the couch. She doesn’t mind sleeping on the couch with him for that matter. As long as it makes Alexander happy, she’s happy.

Alexander groans and holds his head, Molly wakes up with a yawn while he suffers. He has no idea how many drinks he’s had, but judging by the pain of his hangover, maybe a lot for his standards… “fuck me sideways…”

“Only if you want me to, babe.” Molly giggles, and instantly, in a flash of pink glory, Alexander’s face is a bright rosy colour.

“That's not what I mean- oh fuck.” Alexander winces and hides his eyes behind his hair.

Molly laughs at this and Alexander peeks at her, smiling along with her. It is a little funny.

“Come on, let’s have some breakfast and get you back to your place.” Molly says as she pulls him up, offering a hair tie. Alexander takes the hair tie and follows her to the kitchen, why does he need a hair tie?

Alexander walks by a reflective surface looks into it. Damn, his hair is a mess. All frizzy and all over the place.

He glances over to Molly and sees her rounding the corner into the kitchen and trots after her, trying to tame his hair before tying it up. This headache of his isn’t helping.

Alexander huffs slightly and pulls some of his hair back to tame a little of it before going to tie it up.

That’s all he wanted to do.

A seemingly simple task.

A task that could not be interfered with because it is so simple.

Nope.

Alastor suddenly appears before entering the kitchen, scaring the absolute shit out of Alexander. There’s a bright smile and happy go lucky attitude like usual “Well, good-!”

Alexander holds up a finger to silence him and there's a record scratch sound in the back ground. Not today… Alexander is not in the mood, “Al, no, I have a headache…”

He walks off, leaving Alastor behind.

Alexander plays with the hair tie when he enters the kitchen – or dining room, whatever it is, it has seats – trying to figure out a good way to tie up his mess of hair without any headache. Almost everyone is present. Crymini, Vaggie and Charlie aren’t present. Alexander knows Crymini sleeps in like the devil, and Charlie and Vaggie are probably enjoying some time alone in their room. Probably cuddling.

Niffty’s eating some cereal.

Angel is enjoying his pancakes.

Molly is cooking up a storm, maybe she’s making herself as English Breakfast? That’s a good meal.

There’s a sudden laugh. Alexander holds in a wince at how loud it is. Fucking hell, Husk…

“You're a goddamn light weight!” Husk comments and Alexander glares at him pathetically. As Husk laughs, Alexander ties his hair back to make it somewhat neat. It doesn’t work it seems “You look like shit.”

“Husk, mate…” Alexander growls, but keeps his cool. He calms down and smirks at the cat “I ain't no mirror, my friend.”

Husk goes quiet then drinks his morning beer with a grumble “Fuck off.”

Alexander gives a hearty chuckle then holds his head again as the laugh had aggravated his headache.

He sits at the counter and puts an elbow on it to prop his head up. He can hardly remember much from last night… did the date end well?

Alexander can feel a presence near him. A familiar feeling in his stomach sets off anxiousness. Something’s not right… he feels a breath near his ear as a particularly annoyed voice talks into it “Do that again and I’ll have you for lunch.”

“Jesus fucking hell-!” Alexander falls off his seat and looks up at Alastor and his shitty grin. _Great_ , he pissed off the Radio Demon. Again!

Alexander huffs when he gets back up on his seat. Alastor sits next to him. God fucking damn it… Alastor’s going to make his morning hell…

“Are you unwell?” Alastor asks with a shit eating grin and Alexander looks at him. He’s feeling a little queasy now that he really thinks about it. Perhaps it is because Alastor scared him?

Molly looks back at the two from her cooking.

“I've got a hangover…” Alexander grumbles and decides to get a little sassy to distract himself from the queasiness, he asks sarcastically “Who here knows what that means?”

Nifty raises her hand.

Alexander frowns “Oh, no, Love, that was a sarcastic question.”

Nifty lowers her hand.

Alexander sighs and holds his head again. What’s that feeling in his stomach?

“Perhaps…” Alexander looks to Alastor. He’s going to say something irritating. Why? Oh lord, why? Alexander is not in the mood. “You should try sleeping early.”

“You should try sleeping forever, I hear it's great.” Alexander quips back a little annoyed and he can feel the stares. Is everyone looking at them?

Alastor pauses and looks at him with a frozen smile. Did he hit a nerve?

Alastor laughs and Alexander holds in a groan. It’s so loud… “Fancy a drink tonight, my friend?”

“Just stab me instead of killing me slowly with alcohol…” Alexander sighs and wipes his face with his hand. Is it getting hot in here?

“If you insist!” Alastor pulls up a knife out of nowhere.

The moment Alexander sees it, he jumps and starts freaking out. “It was a joke! It was a joke!”

“Hey, knock it off.” Molly calls off and Alexander looks at her, thinking she is the angel she deserves to be.

Alastor shrugs and puts the knife away while Alexander gets situated back in his seat. Alexander burps silently in his fist and wonders if he’s coming down with something.

Alastor looks over to him again and laughs “My dear friend, you look like an unripe banana.”

“Ahh… do I?” Alexander cringes slightly and he holds his stomach when there's a loud gargling sound. He stands up and pushes his chair in, draping his jacket over it and loosening his collar “Pardon me, I need to do something.”

Alexander bolts out of the kitchen. There’s a brief silence before everyone in the kitchen/dining room can hear him vomiting his guts out… even if the closest bathroom is across the hall and through the lobby.

It stops after around a minute and Alexander comes back into the room, wiping his mouth with some tissue. Everyone just looks at him with varying degrees of concern when he disposes of the tissue.

He sits down and holds his head, then turns his attention back to Alastor “What… were we talking about?”

“Fruit salad.” Alastor states simply and Molly turns off the stove.

“Oh yeah, yeah… something about a…” Alexander looks down and sighs. His headache is getting a bit worse… “Unripe banana?”

Alastor chuckles before being pulled off his chair by Molly. She takes his seat from him and reaches over to pet Alexander’s cheek, he’s pouting slightly and she’s giving him a sympathetic look.

“Sis…?” Angel quietly pipes up while Alastor dusts himself off.

“Pardon me, Madame…” Alastor taps Molly’s should when he’s ready but Molly brushes it away with her hand.

“Hey, my little baby green banana, do you want some juice to help with your tummy?” Molly ignores Alastor and holds Alexander’s hold and squishes them slightly. Alexander smiles.

“Yes, please, Darling…” Alexander’s cheeks are squished but he doesn’t mind, if he’s sick, he doesn’t mind being cared for. Just not… what happened before…

“Okay, I'll be right back.” Molly gives him a kiss on the cheek before she moves on to get the juice.

Alexander looks to Alastor and smiles tiredly. Alastor looks annoyed. Good.

Alexander pokes his tongue out in victory.

Alastor stares back silently, and the air around his is slowly turning red. His eyes remain the same, glowing a bit, and sigils are now appearing.

Alexander doesn't physically react other than pulling his tongue back in, but mentally he’s freaking out. He has officially _pissed off_ the _Radio Demon_. What can he do? Alastor’s probably going to make him do something awful. HE’S NOT UPROOTING THE GARDEN AGAIN.

Alexander’s eyes flicker to Molly when she’s seen coming back… Molly’s not scared of Alastor like he is… Oh lord, give him strength for what he’s about to do…

“Molly! He's picking on me again!” Alexander whines and it catches everyone off guard to how loud he is.

Alastor pauses his scary mode when Molly rushes over to hug Alexander with two arms. She glares at him and he smiles back amused by this, after all, what chap would allow their woman to protect them? Then again, this gal is related to Angel. Then she smiles back, confusing him temporarily, before the sickeningly sweet tone to her voice rings in the air as she talks, “if you touch a hair on my boyfriend’s head, I will personally make sure that your channel only broadcasts the audio from all my brother's movies.”

“Damn, thanks sis.” Angel laughs, ignoring the standoff between his sister and Alastor. Alastor may be able to take down a weaponised blimp, but he will never be able to defeat Molly. Especially when she’s annoyed, because God intended for her to be a fucking storm. But hey, free advertisement if Alastor is stupid enough to challenge her.

Alexander looks to Alastor, leaning his head on Molly’s shoulder as she continues to death smile at Alastor. He’s smiling too, but not a happy smile, no, no, he’s giving Alastor a sassy “oh shit” smile. This indicates that Alexander did not expect Molly to go so far and it also means he knew Molly would react this way.

And Alastor knows.

But, he holds a smile, recognising defeat. He sits somewhere else while Molly sits back down on the stolen seat and dotes on her sick boyfriend.

“I’ll take these.” Alexander picks up the plates of everyone and stacks them up before hauling them off.

“Babe, you don’t need to.” Molly touches his arm but Alexander smiles down at her.

“I’m fine, Darling, it’s no biggie.” Alexander reassures and takes the dishes into the kitchen.

He places the dishes in the sink and looks around for the dishwashing liquid. He might as well wash them before leaving, after all, he did cause quite the scene. Alexander pulls his sleeves back to his elbows and decides to get to work, putting the plug in the sink and turning on the tap.

As the water fills the sink, Alexander can feel that ominous sensation in his stomach again. Oh crap…

Alexander slowly twists the tap to stop the water, he can practically feel the red aura in the air constricting him and keeping him in place. The creepy shadow appears in front of him and Alexander freezes, staring into its lack of eyes. A hand then suddenly takes his shoulder “Your next shift will include cleaning the eaves.”

“Ugh, fuck me…” Alexander groans and holds his face as the spooky effects and shadow disappear. Of course… Just his luck, Alastor has cruel ways of getting him back…

“I’d rather not.”

“Bye! Thanks for putting up with us!” Molly calls out as she and Alexander get ready to leave. She pulls Alexander along when she’s done. They’re leaving to get back to the Tavern as Boss had texted them to bring Alexander back. Today’s a work day, but thankfully it is a Thursday. Thursdays are slow days.

“I'll see you next shift, guys…” Alexander waves as he’s pulled out by the arm. When outside and away from the Hotel by a good few blocks, Molly releases Alexander’s arm and walks beside him, still taking the lead to guide him back home. He doesn’t mind, but the hand on his arse is making him a little flustered, “um, my darling…”

“Don’t mind me, just know we’re going to have a lot of _fun_ when we get to my place.” Molly answers a little ominously while giving a laugh. She sounds so happy and forward with this idea… What the fuck did he do last night?

Alexander blushes slightly but keeps his mouth shut as they walk down the street. Molly both scares him and thrills him.


	23. Update on Writer

So, Lovely Readers, as you have probably noticed, I have not posted in a while yet again. This is because of other medical reasons and some things happening outside of writing life.

Life... it ain't fun most of the time, but you have to go through this stuff. Oh well, things will be fine in the end, the next chapter should come soon if things mellow out, but only time can tell.

So, thank you for reading this and waiting so patiently, I really appreciate it, and I'm sure my man u/thebrutalistboi does also. We were working on a lot of things for this series, I guess during this time it would be better to work out a few more things together for you guys, just before I begin posting chapters again.

So, yes, that's the update, I haven't been on for a while, currently stuck in bed, I'm also not up to date on any Hazbin News that may have come up, so I might need to do some of that to make the story better.

See you all soon, hope you all the best, drink water, stay safe.

**Author's Note:**

> Stay Tuned
> 
> Remember to check out Reddit User Thebrutalistboi and support them.


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